i got my rear end back togther and know the bearing preload should be 15 inch-pound but how tight should i make the pinion nut

thanks
ken

 

The nut will be super tight. The preload when you rotate the yoke should be 15 inch pounds with the wheels off.

It is very difficult to get the preload set due to the already crushed crush sleeve, you are supposed to replace the sleeve but this is a huge PITA. That why I went with a solid spacer so I can always precisely regain pinion preload without disassembly.

 

where did you get the solid spacer and shims at

thanks
ken

 

Mine came from Randys ring and pinion, however nearly all f-body performace shops online have them.

You want the 10-bolt Ratech solid spacer and shim kit, its around $30.00 or so.

Be advised, The install of this solid spacer is super tricky to do. You have to add the correct shimming and achieve correct bearing preload. The tolerance is about +-.004. It is very easy to do this wrong. You will need to install and remove the pinion several times (major PITA) in order to find the right shim pack. This process alone would take about 45 minutes alone to do the right way.

If the spacer is set up wrong then bye bye pinion bearings and maybe gears.

The good news is the solid spacer is far better than the dinky crush sleeve because the preload cant change or slip, it stays constant plus you can easily replace a leaky seal and reinstall the nut and get the correct preload simply by torqueing the crap out of the nut. No guess work like the crush sleeve.