I need to replace the pinion seal on my '71 8.5 axle. Next week I will be in US and will get the 2043 seal. I do not have the special J-xxxxx-tool for installation, nor can I rent one, nor will I spend 100 bucks for a one time stand. Looking at the tool I asume, that it has two functions: Avoid, that the seal gets pressed in tilted, relative to the pinion shaft/axle housing Ensure proper axial position of the seal relative to the pinion shaft/axle housing What are your tricks for installation without tool, and has someone the correct dimensions to ensure above 2.? THX
Simple bearing and race driver set is nice to have around,..but a small ball peen tap around the edges then a piece of lumber with a larger hammer to drive it ho.e,..dont forget sealer in the OD of the seal,..oil in the ID and stake and loctite the nut,..check the yoke for a wear groove The sea has a lip when it seats on the case your done,...dont over think it,..when tightening the nut try not to overtighten it,..you want to get it back where it was or just touch tighter. Use an impact and keep checking by turning the yoke as run it down,...don't forget to STAKE THE NUT,..I've seen several rearend destroyed due to people not doing this
It does NOT always go in flush. When the seal is removed,you can see a small shoulder that the seal presses up against. How much the seal goes in depends on how deep they bored the end. The seal usually sticks out about 1/8”. Look at you original,and that should be a good sign of where the new one will sit. Before I install the new seal,I like to smear a light coat of rtv around the seal bore in the housing,for extra insurance against any fluid wicking between. Before I reinstall the yoke,I apply white liquid Teflon thread sealer on the splines.This will prevent any fluid from wicking through there. Then apply a small dab of red locktite on the pinion threads,and either use a new pinion nut,or prick-punch it when you are done.
Thanks to all of you. Very helpful advice! @ Brian: Just to make sure. The picture you posted does not show the correct seal for my '71 8.5, right. You attached it just to show how you seal the splines? I went to O'Reillys today and got two 2043 , one from National, one from MasterPro. Thats all they had in stock.
If you drive e the 8.5 deal to far you can get it into the outer bearing, I have used just a small hammer and go evenly, with no pinion I use my seal/race driver set. I use grease on the inner lip to make sure the spring stays in place I would be more worried about not fett the opinion preload back correctly more than the seal.
Cutlass, You are correct. I did NOT post a picture of the 8.5” seal. I just wanted to show the pinion before I install the yoke and nut. Here is an 8.5”.
After inspection I found out, that the seal was not the cause of the leakage. Of course I had removed the seal so I replace it with a seal from national. It is always good to get some hints and advice here on the board, so I knew what to look for. I measured the distance to the small shoulder and with a liner marked the seal all around so that I visually was able to see that it is installed correctly. Other than that I followed the advice, using rtv on the metal housing of the seal and teflon sealer on the splines. The pinion yoke was pitted and had a flat spot. The wear pattern from the lip which should go around the yoke was interrupted at one spot. That left me with the choice of getting a replacement yoke (time, money, setting preload,....) or finding a different solultion. Here is what I came up with. It is called speedy sleeve. Lucky me, I found one with the correct diameter. But it was to long, so I had to cut it. The sleeve is pretty fragile, so you have to use caution when tightening the chuck of the lathe in order not to deform it. I did it, so that it just not fall of. I pevented it from falling of the chuck by holding it in place by hand with a piece of wook. I used my dremel with a cut off wheel and very veeeeery slowly cut the sleeve. I wanted to prevent the sleeve coming loose on the chuck and also was afraid to overheat it during grinding (also used ice-spray to keep it cool). Maybe I was overly carefull, but the grinding alone took at least 15 minutes or so. After carefully deburring the installation was easy. Although I had a funny incident. I placed the yoke overnight in the freezer (around 0°F) in order to ease the installation. However yesterday was such a humid day, that I had ice building up at the yoke once taken out of the freezer. So I had to wait a bit for it to warm up until I was able to remove the ice and until there was no more new ice building up. I prepared the yoke beforehand with epoxy and some polishing, just to make sure the surface, the sleeve slides onto, is even and nice. Installtion of the sleeve is straight forward. The kit comes with a "tool" and you can use a hammer, or a press for installation. So I installed everything yesterday and I am happy as can be to report that the leakage is gone. Thanks again for your support.
Just make sure the new seal does not go deeper into the housing,or the seal surface will be right on the edge of the sleeve.
Humm... I never had to cut a REEDI SLEEVE ON ANY YOKE YET?? wHY DID YOU? oops sorry for the caps...Fat fingered it. Jim
I did not cut the sleeve due to concerns of collision with the outer bearing. That would not have been an issue. I wanted to avoid at all costs that the sleeve is damaging the seal while installing the yoke. This can happen when the sleeve is protruding the shaft of the yoke. The sleeve is almost like a knife edge, so I cutted the lenght such, that the seal is expanded by the taper of the shaft of the yoke. It might have gone well also without cutting, but I did not want to take any chances at all (Rather spending half an hour to an hour on cutting, than waiting days for a new seal which I would have to order overseas).
Did not see you were in Germany ...lol. Wow and that is one of the MOST popular seals GM has ever produced. 2043
Anyone know the Reedi Sleeve part number for the pinion yoke on the 69 8.2 rear end? The pinion seal is next on my project list for the GS400.
If it is an original 68 69 70 8.25 rear there is NO redi sleeve seal. Sorry. Tried years ago to find one. NO GO
