Chasing a leak in my 12 bolt
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with solid spacer torque it to whatever you had it at before. get a feel of the rotation before and after, should be about the same.
Thanks
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1,053 Posts
Check the area where the axle tubes go into the center section. I have seen them leak there and also had a friend that had a leak though the weld that holds the tube.
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2,739 Posts
Yup
They just about ALL leak there. 10-bolts, 12-bolts, whatever. If the rest of the setup is clean enough to be able to tell, you'll almost always find a weeper there on at least one side.
I use the solid spacers every time I possibly can... I don't even know how tight I get them. AHELLUVALOT more than any weenie 150 ft-lbs, I feel sure though. I made a tool out of some about ¼" x 2" strip stock about 4' long and drilled along the edge to bolt to 2 of the U-bolt holes on the yoke, and the longest breaker bar I can find or an air gun on the nut. Probably 200-250 ft-lbs at least. With the solid spacer you can tighten the nut as tight as you want (as long as you don't destroy anything) and it doesn't affect the preload, it just is that much harder for it to ever come loose.
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2,739 Posts
No; to put in the solid spacer you have to take the whole thing apart, and put the pinion back in with the spacer and its shimes in place of the crush sleeve, and adjust the spacer's shim pack until you get the bearing preload you want. Which may take a couple of pinion R&Rs in the housing.
Think about your front wheel bearings... you press the outer races into the hub, slip the rear cone over the spindle along with the hub, slide the front cone into the hub, thread the nut on, adjust the nut for the desired bearing preload, and put in a cotter key. At that point, the space between the 2 bearings is exactly the same as the space between the outer races, minus the thickness of the bearings and a couple of more .001"s for preload. Right?
A pinion works EXACTLY the same way. You press the outer races into the housing, and then the process is identical, except that instead of tightening the nut against nothing at all and having a cotter key to hold it in place once it reaches its desired point, you tighten the nut against the crush sleeve, which crushes (providing a prevailing load to tighten the nut against) as you tighten the nut, until you reach the desired bearing preload. When tightened to that point, the distance between the nut and the pinion gear where the shim goes is a couple of .001"s less than the space betwen the outer races (minus the bearing thickness of course), at which point the lock feature of the nut, along with the prevailing torque from the crush sleeve, is supposed to lock the nut in place.
What the spacer does, is to simulate the crush sleeve, except that it's SOLID. It comes with a set of shims. You select shims until the total assembly is the right thickness, i.e. a couple of .001"s less than the distance between the 2 outer races in the housing. Then, since it doesn't "crush" and supposedly attain some kind of "precision" in the process, you can tighten the nut as much as you want, without affecting the preload; because now instead of the nut's location controlling the preload, the spacer does that.
Also keep in mind, you're not really shimming "the gears" when you set up a rear end; you're ACTUALLY shimming the housing. Gears are all made VERY accurately, to within a .001" or 2; the housing however can vary wildly, and the carrier to a lesser extent. Imagine, when building a rear end, that you have a gear set and a carrier all hanging in space in perfect alignment, and you're selecting shims and so forth to cause your random housing to fit around them.
Think about your front wheel bearings... you press the outer races into the hub, slip the rear cone over the spindle along with the hub, slide the front cone into the hub, thread the nut on, adjust the nut for the desired bearing preload, and put in a cotter key. At that point, the space between the 2 bearings is exactly the same as the space between the outer races, minus the thickness of the bearings and a couple of more .001"s for preload. Right?
A pinion works EXACTLY the same way. You press the outer races into the housing, and then the process is identical, except that instead of tightening the nut against nothing at all and having a cotter key to hold it in place once it reaches its desired point, you tighten the nut against the crush sleeve, which crushes (providing a prevailing load to tighten the nut against) as you tighten the nut, until you reach the desired bearing preload. When tightened to that point, the distance between the nut and the pinion gear where the shim goes is a couple of .001"s less than the space betwen the outer races (minus the bearing thickness of course), at which point the lock feature of the nut, along with the prevailing torque from the crush sleeve, is supposed to lock the nut in place.
What the spacer does, is to simulate the crush sleeve, except that it's SOLID. It comes with a set of shims. You select shims until the total assembly is the right thickness, i.e. a couple of .001"s less than the distance between the 2 outer races in the housing. Then, since it doesn't "crush" and supposedly attain some kind of "precision" in the process, you can tighten the nut as much as you want, without affecting the preload; because now instead of the nut's location controlling the preload, the spacer does that.
Also keep in mind, you're not really shimming "the gears" when you set up a rear end; you're ACTUALLY shimming the housing. Gears are all made VERY accurately, to within a .001" or 2; the housing however can vary wildly, and the carrier to a lesser extent. Imagine, when building a rear end, that you have a gear set and a carrier all hanging in space in perfect alignment, and you're selecting shims and so forth to cause your random housing to fit around them.
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