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How much torque is required to remove the T-case pinion nut? I tried a 3/4" breaker bar on my socket with a 2 foot cheater and also tried lifting the breaker bar with a 3 ton floor jack- nothing. I have front wheel drive engaged and the shaft brake on- I did manage to turn the yoke before I stopped- didn't want to break my borrowed breaker bar. Bought a 3/4 T-bar, ready for round #2. Should I use heat or a big impact gun- don't want to break gear teeth or damage shaft heat-treat.
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My transfer cases do not have "pinions". ;^)
I have removed the yokes from the differential pinion shafts using the method you described. Sometimes I have had to place an 8-foot long pipe extension over the handle of the 3/4-inch breaker bar and a 24-inch pipe wrench clamped on the yoke with its own 8-foot long pipe over the handle. This usually works pretty good just by resting the pipe wrench "extension" on the ground and jumping up and down on the breaker bar "extension". The truck should not be in gear and the wheels should not be chalked when doing this. Obviously you want the truck on a perfectly flat surface so it will not start rolling away as you take up backlash in the pipe wrench. The pipe wrench will make deep marks on the outside surface of the yokes with this method though.Originally posted by maineSS View Post
As far as the yokes on the transfer case, I have ALWAYS removed them with the case off the truck and the yoke held in a big bench vice. Sometimes a long extension is required on the handle of the 3/4-inch breaker bar. Sometimes a few love taps with a BFH in the breaker bar handle will work.
As far as actual torque, I have no idea. I simply assemble in reverse order with the handle extensions as tight as I can get everything and back off until the first set of holes line up so I can insert the cotter pin.
I have never broken any parts this way and really doubt that you could over torque the nuts on the ends of these shafts unless you weigh 400 lb.
I never use heat on any of these parts and using either the pipe wrench method or the bench vice method to clamp the yoke assures that you do not transmit force to and gear teeth within the differential and/or transfer case.Last edited by Gordon Maney; 05-04-2009, 06:56 PM. -
Lets see... 200 lbs at 8 ft away- 1600 lb/ft of torque! I'm beginning to wonder if somebody wasn't trying to take up shaft slop by increasing preload on my T-case- how much "wiggle" side-to-side is normal for 60 yrs vs. "Park it, Dave!" I'm making up a yoke wrench fom 5/8" plate- 2 slots for the ears and a 2" hole in the center for my turned-down 3/4" drive air socket. one of my yoke ears was opened up compared to the other, allowing the u-joint cap to spin- would this be a consequence of eccentric rotation of the T-case shaft? Bigtime seal leakage also.Comment
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Victory is Mine! (For Now)
I decided to abandon Working-Class Hero measures at nut removal, and unbolted the driveshaft retainer from the T-case so it could be held in a big vise at my machinist's place. Went to work with a 2 lb sledge and a sharp chisel at locations 180 deg apart, and the nut came off. Fortunately no threads were pulled (pic #1). The machinist thought this nut was likely Grade 5 hardness. The seal was a pain. Fortunately the mini slide hammer saved the day when the seal puller failed miserably (pic #2). There's a hard plastic reinforcement you have to drill into to get room for the self-tapping sheet metal screw on the slide hammer to work. Both bearings looked just lovely (small front is Timken #2793, large rear is Timken #3720), and both will be replaced because it appears they may have been set up too loose- 55 thou shim pack, book calls for 30 thou. (to be continued...)Comment
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Pic #3 shows the front bearing & race, Pic #4 the large bearing and race. Pic #5 shows the shims at lower left (I had(3) .014, and (1) .013), plus an assembly challenge- 15 loose needle bearings that support the end of the input shaft. I fished around in the bottom of the T-case with a magnet to be sure I had them all, and you, dear reader, should do the same if you intend to remove this shaft & retainer. Hopefully, heavy grease will hold them in during reassembly- if anybody has a better way, please share!Comment
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Put just enough grease on the rollers to hold them in place. Install the wire retaining ring FIRST, follow with the needle rollers. The last roller will have to be lightly tapped in end first. They will not fall out once the last roller is installed, unless wear exist somewhere. This is by far the easiest way to do it. Use that grease sparingly with care being taken not to stop up the 2 oil holes in the bottom of the bore. Filling the holes with grease can cause oil starvation & catastrophy in a short time span.Comment
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Hmm.... I don't recall seeing a wire ring- I'll look again in the pilot hole and the case- hopefully it hasn't been running without one. My worry is on reassembly, since I'm going in horizontally, it seems I coulld easily catch the edge of a needle and knock it out of the bearing circle.Comment
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Found the wire circlip- still in place. Had my heart going pitter-pat there for awhile, Charles. I've heard you can rubber-band the needles in place on the pilot of the driveshaft- will the circlip depress sufficiently to allow the needles to slide into place?Comment
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They will go right in with the last one having to be tapped on the end just slightly.Originally posted by maineSS View PostComment
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I found that McMaster-Carr sells hardened steel shim sets in the size/thickness needed for bearing setup on the driven shaft. I got a 19 piece assortment from .001" to .125 for $14. They have 10 piece sets of a single size for ~ $8. HTH.Comment
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I installed new bearings in the T-case driveshaft assy, then made up a yoke holder and started experimenting with shim pack thicknesses. A new mystery presents itself. The original pack was 55 thou compared to the book's 30 thousands. Took an .014" shim out, assembled everything and tightened to 150 lb/ft, and surprise- locked right up, no movement possible. Reassembled and retorqued with the shim, and Instant Perfection! NO sideplay, and easy rotation! Took it back apart to install the oil seal, another reassembly, and what's this?- an 1/8" of shiny seal worn area now visible on the yoke with everything tight! Measured the gap between the case and the gear, compared it with the idler gear gap- everything will fit up right when the assy bolts up. Go figure. Guess we'll run it and see what happens. The tool made reassembly MUCH easier- and it will make doing yoke work on a diff easier when you're dealing with stupidly large torques. Pic #1 shows the tool, turned down 3/4" socket, and yoke. Pic #2 shows the socket in the yoke- it's turned down about 1/8" to get into the yoke. You'll need a carbide lathe bit, and turn down speed/feed- it gets harder towards the square drive end. Pic #3 shows everything fitted up. The tool is cut from 3/4" plate with a 1/4" wide Bi-metal blade on a vertical bandsaw. The gap visible at the end of the handle is where the bandsaw entered to make the cutout- 4 1/2" holes were bored at each corner, and the bandsaw was used to cut out the space between them. Coming in from the handle cutout avoided having to break/reweld the blade to get in/out. The handle is a 20" length of 1" dia. steel bar so it won't bend under the influence of 800 lb/ft. I'll put up a dimensioned drawing later on for those who want to duplicate it.Comment
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