Just like the title says....How tight does 20"lbs feel?
I'm setting my pinion preload on new bearings and 20"lbs feels pretty damn tight. If you spin the pinion by hand (flick of the wrist) it won't make one revolution.
Is that right? Or is my torque wrench a piece of junk and I'm over tightening this thing??

 

iits not much at all.......most the time flippin it will be about a half turn

 

Best I can describe it is very snug but not real tight. I agree maybe a half turn, I always use an inch pound torque wrench. Better a tad more tight than loose in my opinion.

 

If your wrench was 12 inches long, you would apply 1.67# of force to the end of the wrench.... not very much.

 

Thanks guys!!
looks like I still have my vibration problem...
I started a new thread here.
http://web.camaross.com/forums/showt...14#post4794114

 

Not really . Basically, this is one of those things that needs to be setup as close as you can get it. I just recently suffered the consequences (I believe) of having the pinion nut too tight ..... burned out pinion bearing .

I just had to put another diff together last week in a '96 Yukon I just picked up (got a deal on it 'cause it blew a carrier bearing, took out the gears, made a bit of a mess inside ) ... and when setting the pinion torque, I don't think there's any way that you could "flick" the pinion and make it free-wheel for even ~1/4 turn ... it will always require constant applied force to turn, HOWEVER, it is not much at all ... you should be able to turn it EASILY with one hand. If it becomes tight for one hand, you're probably up well over ~50 in/lbs, and need to back off.