How to take the pinion flange off?

Cobra1894 · Sep 29, 2005

What is involved in taking the rear end flange off? I have taken the flange bolt off but how do I remove the flange from the rear end? Please dont tell me I need to take the diff cover off...

slow5poh · Sep 29, 2005

you took the nut off, did u use an impact? it might be pressed on.

Modular2v · Sep 29, 2005

if you dont have a puller to pull it off try a BFH!!!!!! "big *****ing hammer"

Cobra1894 · Sep 29, 2005

I'll rent a puller if teh BFH doesnt do it. Are there any seals that I need to replace or is it pressed on?

jackchan · Sep 29, 2005

not trying to get into your business but why are you pulling it off?

remove the 4 bolts that hold the drive shaft in......
remove the Pinon nut (i think its 1 1/4")
use a puller or hook two of your drive shaft bolts back in and YANK your drive shaft! (of course not into your transmission but below it)

the pinion flange has a seal and when you reinstall your pinion nut you will need to use a NEW nut from a dealer or drivetrain specialist place. The nut has a dry loc tite on it and the best way I've found is install a new nut/crush sleeve and tighten down to where the collar has between 16 and 23 inch pounds of drag on the collar rotating.......you will need a Pull handle (1/2" drive to crush the crush sleeve) then use a Inch pounds torque wrench to check tension on the collar.......if you need anymore help just hollar!
Jack

slow5poh · Sep 30, 2005

jackchan i may need u soon, i just had gears put in a yr ago and the ****in pinion seal leaks already, and both axle seals. but gears are set up nice and tight. maybe i'll tackle that pinion seal my self after all!

jackchan · Sep 30, 2005

just remember the clunk in a rear end is because pinion nut is to tight..(say over 23" pounds of drag on the pinion collar)...and the whine from a set of gears is from the pinion nut being to loose..(say around 10 or 14" pounds of drag on a pinion collar)..(if everything else is shimmed correctly). My buddy and I use to own a local Mustang shop and prolly put in at least 38-40 sets of gears. The shims on each side of a carrier, and the shims behind a pinion bottem bearing are reused in a gear exchange. So normally I would say 9.5 out of 10 times you WILL NOT have to check pinion depth (in our 38-40 cases at least) as long as you reuse same thickness shims or the exact shims from factory install!

our first set of gears we installed whined a bit......on that particular install we were "rookies" to say the least. We installed that first set of 3.55's from a Muscle Mustangs and Fast Fords Article.....lol (hey gotta learn from somewhere) after the first initial install...however we learned thru our local drivetrain shop (Clutch Products was the name at the time) what exactly to replace and what not to replace. As our shop grew we installed gears in Camaros, Chevy Trucks, 86-93 Mustangs, several 94 up mustangs and even a 1979 FORD 4x4..........bascially the mustang and chevy 10 or 12 bolt rear ends are the same.....our shop later came to an end after a Nitrous backfire on a customers car, we had no shop insurance, as we only operated on "the side" so to speak..........we were sued........and that basically put our little pop and pop shop out of business. We were the origional "XTREME MUSTANGS"!
Anyway I can help you guys I'll be more than happy too!

Jack

BlackGT89 · Sep 30, 2005

jackchan said:
just remember the clunk in a rear end is because pinion nut is to tight..(say over 23" pounds of drag on the pinion collar)...and the whine from a set of gears is from the pinion nut being to loose..(say around 10 or 14" pounds of drag on a pinion collar

Humm, maybe that explains why my R.E. clunks so bad (I assume you mean that feeling of too much slack or lash between coasting and accelerating). My pinion seal also started leaking after installing my 3:55's. I had it fixed once but it started leaking again in no time.

Sorry about the demise of your shop jackchan. Sounds like you were providing the community with a good service down there !

crazypete · Sep 30, 2005

jackchan said:
not trying to get into your business but why are you pulling it off?

remove the 4 bolts that hold the drive shaft in......
remove the Pinon nut (i think its 1 1/4")
use a puller or hook two of your drive shaft bolts back in and YANK your drive shaft! (of course not into your transmission but below it)

the pinion flange has a seal and when you reinstall your pinion nut you will need to use a NEW nut from a dealer or drivetrain specialist place. The nut has a dry loc tite on it and the best way I've found is install a new nut/crush sleeve and tighten down to where the collar has between 16 and 23 inch pounds of drag on the collar rotating.......you will need a Pull handle (1/2" drive to crush the crush sleeve) then use a Inch pounds torque wrench to check tension on the collar.......if you need anymore help just hollar!
Jack

I've reused 3 pinion nuts now. They work just fine. Loctite the hell out of it and it wont back off. There is no pulling/pushing force to make the nut back off (other than a little from the crush sleeve).

To get the pinion flange off, remove the ring gear carrier so you can see the pinion, remove the pinion nut then smack it with a MALLET. Not a hammer. A hammer wont do ****e. I whaled for a good afternoon with a regular hammer and nothing happened. I took 3 blows with a deadblow mallet and that puppy popped right out. Make sure you follow through so it doesn't "bounce".

If you have fms gears, just reuse all the shims. They have the same exact pinion depth on all their gears. I reused the crush sleeve too. It's an artform to get that small amount of drag on the pinion. You just pick up the crush sleeve where it left off. Basically, give it impact wrench blasts and wait until it gets enough drag to not free spin. If you impact gun it and it stops 1-2 seconds later, it's good. Then rotate it and you should feel some resistence. Only with FMS gears. I've done 3.73's , 4.56's and another set of 3.73's this way with 20K miles across the 3 sets and the latter 2 looked mint with no grooves or wear when taken out. All 3 silent.

Cobra1894 · Sep 30, 2005

Well when I was working on replacing my whole rear end I had it "balanced" on a plastic bucket while I put the brake harware on and it ended up falling off... I should have know better, but anyhow. I have a clunk and the driveshaft has play, it doesnt look like the U-Joints. I still have my old rear end and was planning on putting that flange on this new rear end. I will check the Nut tightness first however. Thanks for all the details VERY HELPFUL. I let you guys know if that fixes everything... Again thats for the info.

jackchan · Sep 30, 2005

it prolly would be ok to reuse the nut but we just always replaced it for a little extra insurance.

if the tension were below 23 " pounds to begin with yes you could use old crush sleeve until you get to the higher end of 16 to 23" pounds of tension, but its hard to sneak up on 23" pounds from say 21 or 22 inch pounds so I just take the easy road and use a new sleeve. They are inexpensive and you have more room for the over tightening error.....

we reused the pinion shims on every gear job we ever did (with the exception of the first one of course). And had good luck.......never a whine, and no clunks either. We used Richmond (notorious for whine), Ford Motor Sports (the name at the time), Motive Gear, and Precision gear gears. The only time I could see an issue with pinion depth would be in the case of a Differential by a different manf. than it came with, and new gears at the same time. However we did install a couple Auburn Lockers with no Pinion depth problems at all!

BlackGT89,
Thanks for the compliments.......we tried to give good service at a fair price. You wouldnt happen to know a guy by the name of kurt bowling around your area would ya? white 94 GT!

crazypete · Sep 30, 2005

jackchan said:
if the tension were below 23 " pounds to begin with yes you could use old crush sleeve until you get to the higher end of 16 to 23" pounds of tension, but its hard to sneak up on 23" pounds from say 21 or 22 inch pounds so I just take the easy road and use a new sleeve. They are inexpensive and you have more room for the over tightening error.....

The problem is getting that little crush sleeve started. It takes something like 400 ft-lbs to get the crushing to begin then a little bit to get to the desired torque.

jackchan · Sep 30, 2005

yes it is....I use a 1/2 " pull handle and sometimes you have to put your foot against the frame and use your weight to get it going....A good impact would be nice in this situation. But there prolly very few (local parts house ones anyway) that have that much torque.

I need to break down and rebuild my whole rearend, and Install gears in my own car but I've been to lazy to do it so far! lol

crazypete · Sep 30, 2005

jackchan said:
yes it is....I use a 1/2 " pull handle and sometimes you have to put your foot against the frame and use your weight to get it going....A good impact would be nice in this situation. But there prolly very few (local parts house ones anyway) that have that much torque.

I need to break down and rebuild my whole rearend, and Install gears in my own car but I've been to lazy to do it so far! lol

Well...here's an easy way to do it:

Do the pinion nut last. Assemble the whole thing and bolt it together, add tires, put it on the ground, chock the wheels and set the e-brake. Then put a hydraulic floor jack under the handle of a breaker bar. That'll get it started!!!

I did the first 2 sets of FMS gears "by hand" and had the impact gun only for this last set of 3.73's.

jackchan · Sep 30, 2005

I usually use a 1/4" drive extension thru one of the holes in the collar, against the rear end housing to hold it........then use the pull handle to tighten it. Changing over to a 3/8" drive inch pounds torque wrench to check rotation. another tip is to once you get it close to the desired 16" lbs to 23" lbs spin the collar around 6-8 times and check torque again with inch pounds torque wrench. IT will seat some when you spin it and the inch pounds of torque will drop off and have to retightened some to get back to the desired 16 to 23 number.

BlackGT89 · Sep 30, 2005

jackchan said:
BlackGT89,
Thanks for the compliments.......we tried to give good service at a fair price. You wouldnt happen to know a guy by the name of kurt bowling around your area would ya? white 94 GT!

The name doesn't ring a bell but I've seen a few nice White GT's around !

jackchan · Sep 30, 2005

the guy lived down here in Mobile, and we ran a few times out at the local 1/8 mile track. He was in the army so he could be deployed, I havent talked to em in a couple years now.
take care

How to take the pinion flange off?

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