differential adjusting nut. lip seal leak - screwed it up

[glockworks21]

Ive screwed this up next level so I have started another thread.
I had/still have a leak on the drivers side lip seal. I took out the differential adjusting nut without realizing how bad this could have screwed me.
I thought this was all original but did notice a couple marks on the differential adusting nut where the lip seal fits. I tried sanding them down smooth. I should have asked before wasting all this time and putting it back together. It still leaks and Im sure I made it worse. (replaced lip seal and both o rings)

I put it all back together and tightened that nut back up snug/ then backed it off just a hair to put in the locking clamp. I DID NOT mark it before i removed it. I drove the car around awhile and it seems smooth. No noises. shifts fine, maybe a bit better with the flush and new fluid.

So a new dif adj nut is $90 from DMC.. If fine with that at this point. It seems to be my best avenue. Can someone explain how to set this properly if i order and replace the whole thing?

Thanks
Dave

[Bitsyncmaster]

What makes you think the nut is no good? The outer nubs used to remove and tighten the nut do not need to be perfect.

[glockworks21]

it had a nick or two where the lip seal sits. i think the seal is leaking around them

[Ron]

If no one has info on doing it with everything else assembled, maybe the following will help.

Normally, you would set the preload with it apart as shown below. There should be position marks to align already, so you can put it back where it was. (You may be able to tell where it was by other clues). If so, I'd snug it down and back off to match. Otherwise, I'd go for "free, without play" since the bearings are used.

69118

[David T]

When replacing the seal doesn't stop the leak the problem is usually the surface on the yoke where the seal rides. It gets a groove. Several ways to fix. If the groove is very minor you can polish it out. If it is bad you can replace the yoke, metal spray and machine it smooth or, the easiest way, put a Speedi-Sleeve on it.

[glockworks21]

When replacing the seal doesn't stop the leak the problem is usually the surface on the yoke where the seal rides. It gets a groove. Several ways to fix. If the groove is very minor you can polish it out. If it is bad you can replace the yoke, metal spray and machine it smooth or, the easiest way, put a Speedi-Sleeve on it.

Thanks Dave,

How bad is it that i removed that differential nut? Im sure it has a scratch where the lip seal sits and thats probably causing my issue. I want to replace it and at same time I will check for a grove on the shaft. Im now more concerned about getting it back into right position without having to take apart transmission. I screwed up taking it out in the first place. I put it back tight and backed it off slightly and it seems to drive ok. What should i be looking for in regard to that?

[David T]

It is impossible to adjust the backlash correctly without disassembling the final drive. That being said you can get close by doing exactly what you say you did. If you don't hear any bad noises when driving you probably are OK. Maybe change the oil in the final drive and if you see a lot of metal or you notice a lot of play or the seal keeps leaking, then I would go deeper.

[82DMC12]

You "should not" remove the diff adjusting nut but after just going through the actual diff adjustment process myself, I would not say it's the end of the world and I certainly would not bother removing the transmission to set it again. The book says to adjust it to 10 to 30 newton-meters if the bearings are NEW, but adjust to "no play" if the bearings are used. When I did this, I set mine to about 15 newton-meters which seems pretty snug and in order to get there, I had to turn the nut by tapping it with a hammer and brass drift. And that was done to about the limit I felt I could do using that method. There is a special tool for this which would be easier to use but the drift worked as well.

My guess is you are probably still a bit too loose and you might want to snug it up a bit further by giving a couple taps with a punch.

At this point you might as well remove the diff nut again and get the lip seal installed perfectly. It's hard to install with the nut installed and the axle sticking out. I had a few small scratches in my diff nut but it doesn't seem to affect the sealing. I coated the perimeter of the axle seal with hylomar AF and packed it with red grease. I bet your problem is you need to sleeve the axles. Rob Grady is best for this.

69120

[glockworks21]

Thanks everyone

I took it out again and got on highway. It seems to be going through gears fine. Does anyone know what the symptoms would be if it was either too tight or too loose? Dave mentioned noise but it doesn't seem to have any of that. Vibrations? grinding? anything else i should look for? its coming back out again anyways, but i will mark and measure it this time.

[David T]

Thanks everyone

I took it out again and got on highway. It seems to be going through gears fine. Does anyone know what the symptoms would be if it was either too tight or too loose? Dave mentioned noise but it doesn't seem to have any of that. Vibrations? grinding? anything else i should look for? its coming back out again anyways, but i will mark and measure it this time.

If it is only slightly off of proper adjustment you would not notice anything but you will have increased wear over time. The best way to monitor would be to dump the oil and look for metal particles in the oil. Eventually it will get noisy. The way I mark it is to put 2 centerpunch marks, one on the adjuster nut and one on the case and then a spot of red nail polish in each mark so it is easy to see. Then count the # of turns.

[glockworks21]

Thanks for all your help. New diff nut arrived. Installed today. Drove around a few times and it seems to be good. No leaks, no noise. I will drain fluid in a couple hundred miles and see if there is any metal. I think i got lucky. fingers crossed..
Now I just have to remove and rebuild other half shaft. no leak on that side thankfully

Thanks again
Dave.