8.5 pinion problems

prostreeted49

Amateur Racer
Sep 8, 2005
112
0
0
warwick, ri
hey guys, i was setting up my 8.5 the other day and ecountered a problem. when i put the pinion in the case with the crush sleeve, and tryed to tighten it down, i could never seem to get the play out of the pinion. so that means i dont have any preload. it seems as though it bottums on somthing, but when i remove it from the case and put it all together as it would be in the case, its fine. any suggestions?
 

t5montecarlo

MalibuRacing Junkie
Oct 21, 2007
4,632
31
48
Lederach, PA
garage-scene.com
The crush sleeve is very difficult to compress. I made a long bar to bolt to the yoke and it presses against my body (assuming the rear is out of the car). Then a long extension on a breaker bar to turn the nut. It must be tightened a little at a time and then check the preload to be sure not to over tighten.
 

prostreeted49

Amateur Racer
Thread starter
Sep 8, 2005
112
0
0
warwick, ri
i have done 8.5's before, and used and impact gun with no problem, but this one doesnt want to here it. is it possible you just need manual labor to compress the crush?
 

Night Stalker

Dragway Regular
Nov 3, 2009
1,125
0
0
Genoa,Oh
compare the old crush sleeve to the new one in height difference...What i do is file new crush sleeves done to almost match the old ones crush height and then throw them in...Torque the nut down then back off the preload a fuzz as to make the pinion spin more freely, then "stake" the nut with a center punch in 4 corners on nut...
By backing the preload off a fuzz to spin easier this will gain a guy 1-2 mph in the 1/4..
 

prostreeted49

Amateur Racer
Thread starter
Sep 8, 2005
112
0
0
warwick, ri
my impact gun puts out something like 900 ft lbs with a half inch air hose, anyway the crush was just very difficult to crush. basicly i got really pissed off and took t5montecarlo's advice and used a large breaker bar method. its good now, but i never had a crush givee me such a hard time!!
 

art

Amateur Racer
Aug 8, 2008
249
0
16
Mastic, New York 11950
I see I'm a bit late here, I use a torque multiplying wrench to crush the sleeve. I have a chain wrench to hold the yolk and pinion from turning. The multiplication is about 4:1 so it isn't a killer. I found the 1/8th of a turn at a time method the best for avoiding "over crushing". I do like that make the sleeve shorter idea though.....
 

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