I have a 2001 cobra. Ive had driveline vibration ive been trying to figure out. I had a shop rebuild the center section on the rear end. Replaced the wheels and tires. Replaced the hubs and wheel bearings. Still has a vibration. Im currently trying to swap a new driveshaft and pinion flange. I bought a 2003 cobra drive shaft and flange. It has a t56 in it. I marked the nut and counted the turns when i removed the flange. It was 16 turns. Went to install the new flange and it would ony go 14 1/2 turns. The old one was a 2001 cobra style flange. I noticed there was a shim in front of the oil slinger. Do i need to remove that so i can get it to go in deeper or would it be fine if i just left it how it is?
Pinion flange question
- Thread starter Fordman1994
- Start date
Tightening the pinion flange nut, puts preload on the pinion bearing by collapsing the crush sleeve.
You should NOT be able to pull the pinion flange out or push in once the slack is out.
Since the pinion gear is engaged to the ring gear, you will not be able to rotate the pinion gear very far without engaging the ring gear, BUT you might be able to feel the free play of the pinion gear and bearings.
If you can imagine, you should feel about 2 lbs of resistance to turn before feeling the ring gear. This would be measured off the pinion nut.
I think the specs are 25 inch lbs.
Good luck with the vibration.
You should NOT be able to pull the pinion flange out or push in once the slack is out.
Since the pinion gear is engaged to the ring gear, you will not be able to rotate the pinion gear very far without engaging the ring gear, BUT you might be able to feel the free play of the pinion gear and bearings.
If you can imagine, you should feel about 2 lbs of resistance to turn before feeling the ring gear. This would be measured off the pinion nut.
I think the specs are 25 inch lbs.
Good luck with the vibration.
I really don't want to have it rebuild again. I'm just worried the preload is going to be off since I'm only turning the nut 14 1/2 turns instead of the 16 when I took the old one off. I don't know if it's just the difference in the flanges and I can just tighten it back down on the crush sleeve and it'll be fine.
Is it normal for it to have a shim in front of the oil slinger?
I do not think the number of turns of the nut on a different flange can be accurate.
My past experience has been with 9" carriers and I do not remember a spacer between the flange and bearing.
I cannot see how a spacer would be used in that location.
The internal spline of the yoke and pinion shaft is on a taper. A shim would interfere with the movement to seat the yoke and attain preload.
Get the slack out of the pinion bearings and start tightening down until you can feel some slight drag.
IMO that is your only option, without pulling the ring gear carrier out and measuring the bearing preload drag.
On a side note, I lightly wipe the spline of the pinion shaft with some RTV. Gear lube can migrate out the spline and by the nut, creating some lube residue.
If you already have the yoke pulled down, put some RTV on the flange of the yoke nut.
My past experience has been with 9" carriers and I do not remember a spacer between the flange and bearing.
I cannot see how a spacer would be used in that location.
The internal spline of the yoke and pinion shaft is on a taper. A shim would interfere with the movement to seat the yoke and attain preload.
Get the slack out of the pinion bearings and start tightening down until you can feel some slight drag.
IMO that is your only option, without pulling the ring gear carrier out and measuring the bearing preload drag.
On a side note, I lightly wipe the spline of the pinion shaft with some RTV. Gear lube can migrate out the spline and by the nut, creating some lube residue.
If you already have the yoke pulled down, put some RTV on the flange of the yoke nut.
Users who are viewing this thread
