Dana 80 locks up when pinion nut torqed

T

Turbovan

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Mar 21, 2020
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Hey guys
I’m having some trouble after replacing the rear pinion seal on my 96 ram. After installing the new seal I reinstalled the yoke and used the air gun to torque the nut down. This pretty much locked up my rear end. I did mark the nut beforehand so the next attempt was to simply line it up. The tightest I can go is about 150ft pounds. If I go one turn tighter(maybe 2-250ft pounds) the rear end locks up again.

Someone has had this apart before, and there is one shin inside. Could a shim be missing, and would that cause this issue?
 
I am guessing it is setup incorrectly. When it is loose the pinion is actually at an angle, as you tighten it down you are pulling it into the ring gear, by straightening the pinion. Did you happen to check how hard it was to turn over, prior to the seal replacement?
 
I don't believe the Dana 80 ever ran a crush sleeve, although Dana 60 did.

Edited and treed
 
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Everything I’ve read(except one person/post) said no crush sleeve in the 80. Prior to the replacement I did not measure how easily it turned over, but it did move freely. I was hoping for an easy answer! I don’t know much about axle setup, but it seems I’m about to learn.
 
Needs more shim between the two pinion bearings. Those shims are used to set pinion bearing preload which should be 10-15 in lbs two rotate. Should only take a .003-.005 more shim if you are getting to 150 ft lbs of torque before it tightens up.
 
kxhonda said:
Needs more shim between the two pinion bearings. Those shims are used to set pinion bearing preload which should be 10-15 in lbs two rotate. Should only take a .003-.005 more shim if you are getting to 150 ft lbs of torque before it tightens up.
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I missed this post, thank you very much. I’ve been learning about axle setup, and what you wrote gives me confidence I’m on the right track. I’d like to avoid going through the entire case, but am wondering if I could have uncovered another issue. Is it normal to need to re-shim after removing the yoke; just normal gear wear?

Also, the shim I initially mentioned was between the yoke and front pinion bearing. So I don’t yet know what’s behind the bearing.
 
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