oldblues

hi
what size socket do i need for the rear 4x4 of my 98 2500 to remove the pinion nut to change the seal .

thank you !

Otis

1 5/16" for the Dana 70.

dshane62

1.5\16"

oldblues

hi
thank you !
i got the nut off , was good an tight .
1 5/6 was right !
replaced seal , retightened nut ,had it markedd with a center punch to retighten it to same spot .
only lost app 3 oz of rear gear oil .
leak gone !

Joseph H. Smith

The torque on the pinion nut is 440 foot pounds. By the way how did the pinion look? Was it grooved from the old seal(s)? I just changed mine and I have 205,000 miles on mine. This is the 5th one. The factory went bad in less than a year. The warranty replacement lasted a month but I saw how they installed it and it was not per the manual. I bought all the tools necessary including a 600 foot pound torque wrench and went by the manual. That seal lasted 10 years. Then I started traveling overseas for my company and my wife had some work done on it. They changed the rear seal but it did not last. When I was home I pulled the pinion and sure enough there was a sizeable groove. There is no room to put a new seal and move it and I could not get a new pinion in time before I returned to Afghanistan so I bought a sleeve and installed it with a new seal. Before I come home I will order and have a new pinion standing by.

Tate

470 ft-lbs is the spec for the D80.
220-280 is spec for the D70.

Joseph H. Smith

Where did you get you torque specs from? Mine is out of the Dodge Maintenance Manual that I purchased from dodge with the truck. The instructions in my manual actually tell you that you need to record the torque it takes to rotate the pinion before you take it out so that when you reinstall it you start with 440 ftlbs and check the rotational torque. It should be the same or less from before you removed it. If it is less, per the manual, you are suppose to increase the pressure by 5 ftlbs and check it again until the same rotational torque is achieved from the factory. I could not do this as the dodge dealership in Panama changed the seal under warranty and used a breaker bar and large tube to tighten the nut. Since then I have just set it at 440 and left it as I have no way of determining the original rotational torque.

The original seal lasted less than a year, the seal installed by the Panama dealership in 1999 lasted less then 30 days. The seal I installed lasted over 10 years. The seal installed after mine never had a chance to seal with the groove in the pinion.

Tate

'01 factory service manual. It did give the rotational torque (1-3 N-m), but my main point was that your spec was for the D80, which would be way too tight for a D70.

Joseph H. Smith

I see. When I saw that his set up minus the tranny was the same as mine I assumed that we were talking about a D80. Thanks, Joe