Pinion preload

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   Last year over the winter I replaced the torque tube Trunnion on my 57 Rambler 250 V-8. I was going to replace the pinion seal at that time because there was some leakage. I loosened the bolts that bolt the tube to the differential. When I saw what was involved I decided not to deal with it and just bolted everything up. When the weather cleared and I was finally able to drive the car I have a distinct whine on deceleration. After doing some online research sounds like I messed up the pinion preload. I'm thinking of having a local garage replace the pinion seal and correct the pre-load problem. Looking at the TSM is looks as if the V8 didn't use a crush sleve. I already have a new pinion seal. Are there any other parts  I might need?  Any help or advice on the matter would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

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hot57rambler Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List AMC Apprentice Joined: Jun/17/2013 Location: Pottsville, PA Status: Offline Points: 81	Post Options Post Reply Quote hot57rambler Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Pinion preload Posted: Jul/23/2017 at 7:14am
	Last year over the winter I replaced the torque tube Trunnion on my 57 Rambler 250 V-8. I was going to replace the pinion seal at that time because there was some leakage. I loosened the bolts that bolt the tube to the differential. When I saw what was involved I decided not to deal with it and just bolted everything up. When the weather cleared and I was finally able to drive the car I have a distinct whine on deceleration. After doing some online research sounds like I messed up the pinion preload. I'm thinking of having a local garage replace the pinion seal and correct the pre-load problem. Looking at the TSM is looks as if the V8 didn't use a crush sleve. I already have a new pinion seal. Are there any other parts I might need? Any help or advice on the matter would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

vinny Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Supporter of TheAMCForum Joined: Jan/05/2012 Location: Calgary Status: Offline Points: 2837	Post Options Post Reply Quote vinny Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jul/23/2017 at 1:43pm
	Probably this is not much help to you except to listen to a similar story. I got a 66 T/T from the wreckers that had been run low on oil because of a pinion seal leak and I had to change the carrier bearings. Everything runs nice and quiet now (put over a hundred miles on it yesterday) except that I still have to add oil once a year. I also had off the center tube to have a look but from what I remember didn't touch anything. Possibly I did change a seal in that cone but somehow there is still a very slow leak. There did not seem to be any preload on the pinion but I left it alone for a possible future bearing change. From what I remember preload should be about 8 in. lbs. or just slight drag when turning by hand. You don't want the pinion to be free floating, yet you don't want to load the bearings so much that they wear out prematurely.

WesternRed Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List AMC Addicted Joined: Aug/03/2010 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 5799	Post Options Post Reply Quote WesternRed Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jul/23/2017 at 5:51pm
	The backyard way is to mark the pinion and the nut so that you can put the nut back at the same position it was previously.

hot57rambler Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List AMC Apprentice Joined: Jun/17/2013 Location: Pottsville, PA Status: Offline Points: 81	Post Options Post Reply Quote hot57rambler Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jul/23/2017 at 6:08pm
	The funny thing was I never touched the pinion nut. I had the rear pulled back to change the trunnion. I only unbolted the torque tube and pulled it forward to look at it and decided I didn't want to tackle changing the seal at that time.

vinny Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Supporter of TheAMCForum Joined: Jan/05/2012 Location: Calgary Status: Offline Points: 2837	Post Options Post Reply Quote vinny Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jul/23/2017 at 8:23pm
	If you never touched the pinion I would suspect you might have a carrier bearing problem. If low on oil the pinion bearings still get oil long after the carrier bearings have run dry. Those bearings may be hard to come by. Read 1966 Rear Gear Swap for pictures of what the bearings may look like. From what I read it may be possible to use newer bearings with spacers. Just supposition though, I'd pm the poster.

hot57rambler Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List AMC Apprentice Joined: Jun/17/2013 Location: Pottsville, PA Status: Offline Points: 81	Post Options Post Reply Quote hot57rambler Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jul/24/2017 at 9:16am
	It never made a noise until I pulled the rear back to do the torque tube trunnion. I'm probably going to take it to a garage to have the work done. I don't feel like pulling it back again. Now to find a good garage......

vinny Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Supporter of TheAMCForum Joined: Jan/05/2012 Location: Calgary Status: Offline Points: 2837	Post Options Post Reply Quote vinny Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jul/24/2017 at 1:04pm
	IMO if the shims are kept in the same places then bearings should be able to changed and everything will be good. I would change carrier bearings first because doing that totally got rid of the noise in mine. Anybody got bearing P/N's for him?

hot57rambler Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List AMC Apprentice Joined: Jun/17/2013 Location: Pottsville, PA Status: Offline Points: 81	Post Options Post Reply Quote hot57rambler Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jul/27/2017 at 9:14pm
	I was thinking about the carrier bearing. Had a bad torque tube trunnion that was bad for a while. I think maybe from the driveshaft being low for so long it probably had the bearing at an angle. Now that it's where it should be the bearing is now making noise. I did find a new one!