pinion seal leaking

[maddogmauldin]

I have a 97 Mountaineer. The pinion seal on the rear end is leaking. Is this a 'DIY' job or what? What special tools are needed? I read I may need a new pinion nut. I thought my leak was at diff cover. Drained it, bought new gasket and RTV, refilled with synthetic. No leaks there but pinion seal leaks now more than it was. What would a garage charge me to do this or a dealership? Any advice or tips will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[performancenut]

Probably need a tear-down and rebuild. A dry reservoir results in uncomfortable ramifications (seize the rear end!). They don't make a stop-leak product for this problem. Good luck

 

[sk1er17]

ive been looking into this too- my front seal's leaking.

I know the nut has to be torqued properly, but im not sure what else you have to worry about in there...

 

[Brock94]

It's not too bad of a DIY job, but you need an inch-lb beam type torque wrench to test and then set the pinion bearing pre-load, a seal-puller (pretty cheap) and something to set the new seal-- I used a large pvc pipe end-cap bought at Home Depot. If you do it yourself, make sure you have a good manual, read and re-read the instructions a couple times and do it right. You should replace the pinion nut BTW as it is one-time use lock-nut. (Some people re-use it, but for $12 it's not worth the risk.