matefis

Hello,

Looking for your wisdom and tip and tricks on reinstall of the pinion nut.

I have recently changed all the u-joints due to squeaky noises coming from the drive shaft and when at it I have decided to replace the pinion yoke as well, as the one installed had one of the u-bolt mounting "towers" broken. I bought the Yukon 8.2 pinion yoke (YY GM8.2BOP-3R-27) I measured it with reference to the old yoke and they both has the same diameter, lenght and height. I have marked the position and counted the turns of the pinion bolt (9 3/4 - 10 turns). The bolt was pretty snug when taking it off, put the new pinion yoke in and here comes the issue....the pinion bolt is loose at 10 turns with the new yoke and original washer in place.

Will new pinion nut solve the issue? Did I missed something? Did I damaged the crush seal? Have I pulled the bearing?

Any advice or tip how to solve this will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Matt

Fun71

You want the nut to be tight but not alter the preload, which is what reinstalling with the same number of turns is supposed to accomplish, so it appears that something is not as it was before.

Does the nut seem to thread on very easily or is there some tension that takes force to overcome? It's supposed to be a self-locking nut so it should be kinda hard to thread on. If it's not, a new nut may be needed, but that still won't solve your original issue.

matefis

I undestand the preload and the meaning of "turn counting". Was wondering if the nut has some "locking" ability. Yes, it threads back in quite easy. I will for new but all I found so far is nuts that doesn't seem to have same shape and dimension as the one I pulled out. Do you guys have any recomendatikns on manufacturers or retailers that might carry them?

Sugar Bear

You haven't crushed the collar if the nut is loose, nor pulled the bearing, you are good.

By loose do you mean the pinion in and out horizontally or that the nut turns easily on the threads? Remember taking it apart cleaned the threads. If it is loose horizontally I think the depth dimension of the new yoke is shorter.

​​​​​The crush collar doesn't collapse gingerly, in a shop it would probably just be run up briskly with an impact gun and Thread locker whilst the yoke is held by hand. The collar crushes when the yoke is held securely with a long fixture and simultaneously the pinion nut is tightened.

Good luck!!!

matefis

By loose I mean that the nut turns easily. I double checked the dimensions of the Yokes with caliper and they are identical. There is almost no play up/down - left/right when the nut is dialed in 10 turns. It's just when dialed in by 10 turns I cam now unthread it by fingers but took me several taps with air gun to loosen.

matefis

I saw some youtube videos on the preload settings and noticed what fixture they use to hold it in place while crushing the sleeve. I'll give it one extra turn and some good old red Locktite. Will take it for a short ride and if it come loose I'll start deep search for new nut.

Fun71

The original nut is "smashed" so that it is not completely round, which makes it self locking and takes some force to thread onto the shaft. I have read that folks who reuse the original will stake it along with LockTite on the threads so it stays in place.

For a new pinion nut, just do a web search:

https://www.google.com/search?client...8.2%22+10+bolt

matefis

OK, so it really is "self" locking. I found two that should fit the 8.2 on amazon. One from Yukon (that doesn't look) self locking and one from all star. Was just wondering if anyone has any experience or preference.

Sugar Bear

A new nut would be best to reduce the chance of it coming loose later and it is unknown. For now Loctite and monitoring should be fine just don't ovdrtighen it...if it is overtightened and the collar crushes it has to be torn down.

Good luck!!!