Thread: Replacing the Pinion Seal

I just wanted to clarify one detail regarding regarding replacing the rear pinion seal.

In order to make sure the pre load is correct after replacing the seal, all I have to do is mark the drive flange and count the amount of turns to remove it. When replacing these just doing the opposite.

Is this correct? Is there anything else I should look out for?

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Devans

I just wanted to clarify one detail regarding regarding replacing the rear pinion seal.

In order to make sure the pre load is correct after replacing the seal, all I have to do is mark the drive flange and count the amount of turns to remove it. When replacing these just doing the opposite.

Is this correct? Is there anything else I should look out for?

Thanks!

The '96 110 has the Salisbury rear diff - so you're pretty much right with what you've written there, but don't mark the flange - mark the pinion itself.
The flange doesn't have a master spline so can go back on in any position.
I prefer some sort of light permanent mark such as a center punch or cold chisel rather than pen or paint as I've seen both of those removed by subsequent cleaning in the past (sometimes even brushing your sleeve against the mark).
Make up some sort of tool to hold the pinion as the nut is tightish and you'll struggle to get enough movement if you're losing it all twisting the axles.

There's a fair bit of info around here if you search on "salisbury pinion seal".
Other useful trick is to insert a Tek screw into the seal and use a claw hammer on it to remove the seal.

Steve