Kai Demarco

So long story short I busted my last diff because I didn't torque the pinion right. The 'new' junkyard 8.25 is now installed but the bolt threads on the yolk were rusted out so bad, I had to take the yolk off my old one. So I now need to re-torque the nut but I am afraid of messing it up.

I counted threads somewhere around 9-9.5 rotations but this new yolk seems like it does not want go to that amount and I do not want to force it. (Although I am using the pinion of my old 8.25, I am still using the new 8.25's washer and bolt)

So since I cannot just count the threads I will be torquing it to spec. I bought a 0-80 inch/lb beam-style torque wrench to ensure proper preload.

I torqued the pinion nut to 100 ft/pounds, but the preload was only at 2 inch/lb with the tires and rotors off. I went up to 105, then 110 and the preload stayed the same. I am really scared of over torquing and not being able to come back from it because of the crush washer. I was told to torque to 100 ft/pd, but I saw some other posts saying to go to 210 ft/pds? That's a big difference, does anyone know which is correct? Tomorrow, I am going to buy a new pinion nut, however I don't think I can buy a new washer because it is slightly curved. I will then torque the nut down to 100 ft/pds, and keep going up 5 pounds at a time until I have the correct bearing preload. Speaking of which, is it 10-20 or 12-15 in/lb? I have seen both I would like to to aim for the higher end of the spectrum to ensure the crush washer is compressed correctly.

Any help is greatly appreciated. I am really worried I am going to **** this up.

BwanaBob

You need to download a factory manual if you don't have one.
I did the entire axle with my shadetree African mechanic and it got done
pretty much by the book, and I'm no mechanic. I didn't like the idea of
tightening it as much as it said, but sometimes you just have to trust
what the book says.

In any case, it says on page 3-92 (of the 99 manual) :

(9) Hold pinion yoke with Yoke Holder 6719 and
tighten shaft nut to 285 N·m (210 ft. lbs.) (Fig. 15).
Rotate pinion shaft several revolutions to ensure the
bearing rollers are seated.
(10) Rotate the pinion shaft using an (in. lbs.)
torque wrench. Rotating torque should be equal to
the reading recorded during removal, plus an additional
0.56 N·m (5 in. lbs.) (Fig. 16).

The manual says at the end of the chapter :
Pinion Bearing
Preload . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2 N·m (10-20 in.lbs.)