Somehow the massive torqu of my 3.4L has managed to break my torque arm, my diffy went up at an angle and it looks like it might be leaking from the pinion seal.

Its an lt1 rear end, and only has maybe 50k, but I want to replace it, reason why I know have a lt1 rear end is because I blew out my v6 one which I think was partially due to the leak in my pinion seal, from what I have seen in the haynes manual looks semi intricate, I need to read up on the chilton's too see what it says.


Are there any tips you guys can offer?

 

If i'm not mistaken, to replace the pinion seal. You have to remove the driveshaft. Then unbolt the yoke on the pinion. I believe the seal comes out from the front side, the exposed side. You might have to drain the gear oil, i'm not positive how much will leak out if you don't. Maybe someone else can verify all of this.

 

I expected that...

I was planning on replacing all the oil as well and doing the pan gasket as well.

 

any more quick tips to help me out?

 

It's like thermwood said, seal comes out the front. It has a fairly large flange area.
I used a seal puller to remove mine and just tapped the new one back in using the flange.
Mine had a sealer on the original seal so I used some on the new one.
I also noticed it had a pipe type sealant on the pinion spline to yoke junction. Initially, I put it back together with grease on the yoke (thought the sealant was dried grease maybe). After I thought about it, I realized it was probably a sealant to prevent a leak via the yoke splines. I took it back apart and applied some liquid Teflon sealant.
BTW, I lost about a quart of diff lube through the seal opening when I removed the old seal.

 

You are supposed to replace the crush sleeve and torque to a certain setting when replacing the nut unless you mark the allignment of nut and threads and count the turns going off so you can put the exact same torque going back on. That is, incidentally, the way the dealer did mine under warranty. Paint pen line still shows on the nut and threads.

 

As long as you mark everything and put it back exactly like it was you'll be fine.

 

"You are supposed to replace the crush sleeve and torque to a certain setting"

Yeah, there's actually a rotational torque setting for the pinion to load the bearing. That is, the amount of torque required to rotate the pinion.