How to set your pinion bearing pre-load on a 9" Ford differential 

Oh cool, glad I could help.

Well I'm glad you found us. Happy to hear you have found many of the videos helpful. It's always nice to have a little help with motivation. Reading comments like this definitely helps keep me motivated to make more videos so I really appreciate it.

I would more than likely do the same as you .

Thank you for commenting!

Very nice. Good luck!

Thanks! This was actually before I invested in a better camera and lighting.

Ha ha sounds good 🍻

Hey, I see that you set the pinion pre load on your bench. I see a lot of RU-vid videos that perform this on the car or truck. I like your bench top method due to my arthritis. Are there any issues with doing it on the bench as you did? Thanks again and happy new year!

Setting the pre load on the bench is the proper way. If it's up in the car, you're now adding the resistance of the ring gear and axles which throws off your numbers. This type of differential must be done this way. I hope that helps. Happy new years 🍻

@@AlfsMustangGarage what make / model is your dial torque wrench ?

Thank you

You might be able to rent them. If not, they are pretty affordable to buy.

Oh nice! Ya if you got the touch, you've got the touch!

@@AlfsMustangGarage I was going to say the same. Most would would call me a hack but you can tell, with experience, what 15 foot pounds of torque feels like and yea, you get used to what your impact can do. I sneak up on it, then I use a breaker bar with a cheater bar on it until the slop in gone and then sneak up on it with the breaker bar till I feel a little bit of drag. I can tell when there's two pounds but I check it anyway, I give it a touch more, if that's 15 with a used bearing, I leave it alone. If was 16 inch pounds... I leave it alone. One inch pound is not the end of the world, especially with a used bearing. It's a little more critical with a new bearing I suppose. I have many times marked a line on the nut and the the shaft, reassembled it, got to that line and when just a fuz past it. Sometimes nobody in town has the parts and you can't wait. That isn't technically correct but if you can't get the sleeve, you can get away with it that way. just make sure you end up about right inch pounds. Keep in mind, if you're reusing your old bearing you have to thoroughly clean it with parts or brake cleaner and then thoroughly oil it with gear lube, whatever lube that diff requires. Even with the right tool it's going to be difficult to tell the difference between 15 in/pounds and 16 inch pounds. I only cheat and mark and snug it a little more when nobody's got the sleeve and the customer can't wait. I honestly have never had a come back over that. I've never had a customer say, "oh man, that rear end growls now" or anything like that. If growled before, it's gonna growl after if you're just changing a seal because they want the leak fixed. Anyway...Guys that do this for a living know what I'm talking about. Most of the time I can get a sleeve or I have one on the shelf. I grabbed up a shit load of Ford 9 and 8.8 and the typical chev that was in everything till about 5 years ago...can't remember the size. I have every size there is for Mopar because I'm a collector. And I couldn't get a sleeve for my 57 Dodge. Guess what I did? LOL

You're very welcome. I actually posted some links in the video description for the parts used. Should see the crush sleeves, seals, o-ring, and pinion nut 👍

@@AlfsMustangGarage Thanks for the quick reply! I'll look for the video description. The rear end on my '85 F150 4X4 has the U-joint yoke but no way to remove the pinion gear. Wish I could send a pic!

Oh ya it sounds like you don't have a Ford 9"

Yes, they need to break in so they will "loosen" up.

I would use a crush sleeve if it's for a driver. Solids are good for applications where you know exactly what size you need to put the right amount of preload and typically used more in performance applications. I hope that helps.

Sorry mate, that doesn't sound correct. My Ford manual doesn't say that.

additional.... I only pulled the yolk off and there is a washer and then i see the bearings... after seeing all thru the video, i don't think i'll see that crush sleeve unless i take the whole pinion out.. please correct me if i am wrong ..

So the 8" and 9" are setup the same. The difference is the overall size. The thing is, you can use a crush sleeve or you can use shims. Either way is correct as long as the bearing has the correct preload as per your application. Daily drivers usually get the crush sleeve as where high performance usually get shims.

And yes, you'll have to pull the bearing off in order to see the crush sleeve or shim.

Ya shims are a good way to go. Definitely easier to correct if you go too far 👍

www.fordification.com/tech/images/schematics/9in-open-differential.jpg

Ya should be an inner and outer bearing and 1 crush sleeve?

One last question before I tackle this over the weekend. What did you clamp your vice to without causing damage to the pinion?

So the pinion nut doesn't have a torque spec. You have to tighten it with a new crush sleeve till you achieve the correct rotational resistance. Then you're good 👍

@@AlfsMustangGarage Awesome! I was hoping to not have to drop the whole pumpernickle to stop the leak & now I know how -thanks! One more question I'm hopin you could help me with. I've seen gear oil in dif's that look like gray mud. I'm hoping that's not the case in mine. Is it possible to "wash/rinse/scrape" out the old gear oil since I'll be in that general area when I pull the pinion? I'm trying to make it easy by not having to drop that heavy pumpkin as well as remove the axles. I'm lookin for a shortcut. I wanna do the refill of gear oil without havin to do all that. Any advice/suggestions are greatly appreciated!

This is what I would use to get all the fluid out. Those are cheep and they work good to pump out all the fluid without making a mess 👍 Koehler Enterprises RA990 Multi-Use Siphon Fuel Transfer Pump Kit (for Gas Oil and Liquids), Red medium www.amazon.com/dp/B0181EDCZ6/ref=cm_sw_r_awdo_navT_g_4FHW8X0V2EV38257XYC7

@@AlfsMustangGarage I actually have something just like it. It was used some years back to flush out trans fluid in a Ford T5 when q buddy of mine installed a racing clutch. I'm glad I held on to it...I'm sure it will get most, if not all of the old blackened gear oil in the 9". Thanks for your feedback & advice -it really helps!

You're welcome! Good luck with your project 👍

Well I want to say that you will likely be okay if you attempted that and got it as close as possible. However, of course I would advise against it.

You could always see if a local shop can get your pre-load setup for you if you don't have the means to so it yourself.

It also depends on your setup. Some of these are setup with shims instead of a crush washer like in this video. If you have shims, you can swap out your yoke, tighten down a new nut to the torque specs and then verify the pre-load with an inch pound dial torque wrench. But at the end of the day you could always ask around to your local shops to see if they can do it. Shouldn't cost much if you bring them everything.