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Rear Differential Pinion Seal Part #

crunchie_frog

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City, State
Johnson City, TN
Year, Model & Trim Level
Multiple 99-00 5.0 AWD
Looking at replacing pinion seal soon on rear diff. Any opinions on "best" seal? Below are the options on Rock Auto.

USA STANDARD GEAR Part # USA30037 Pinion Seal
TIMKEN Part # 3604
NATIONAL Part # 3604
SKF Part # 18136

There are also are a lot of Motorcraft seals listed as OEM numbers but not for sale at Rock Auto. Would I be better off getting a Motorcraft seal? I read the thread on the Mustang forum on how to do this (along with a bunch of other threads) and the person on the Mustang thread said only to use a Motorcraft seal.

Thanks,
 



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Dorman has a part#, available on rock auto for $20.99, that gives you a new seal, new pinion nut (which is a "one time use" type of nut, so should be replaced.), and a new pinion flange (the part that the driveshaft bolts to. Over time, like anything else, the seal may have worn a groove in the flange, so it wouldn't hurt tyo change it.)

Advance auto parts also sells it. Its under the Dorman OE solutions line, and it is listed as a pinion yoke kit,even though its not a yoke.
 






Dorman has a part#, available on rock auto for $20.99, that gives you a new seal, new pinion nut (which is a "one time use" type of nut, so should be replaced.), and a new pinion flange (the part that the driveshaft bolts to. Over time, like anything else, the seal may have worn a groove in the flange, so it wouldn't hurt tyo change it.)

Advance auto parts also sells it. Its under the Dorman OE solutions line, and it is listed as a pinion yoke kit,even though its not a yoke.

Thank you for the feedback. I am guessing you have done this before so I just had a concern. Most of the threads I have read say to match mark the original pinion nut and pinion flange and to be sure you return the nut back to the original position and check the free wheel torque to return the preloading back to where it was before removing. It sounds like it might be a little more difficult to get back to the original preloading with the new nut and flange, though you are assured of no score marks on the pinion flange and you will have new Loctite on the nut so I guess there are pros and cons to using a new pinion nut and flange. Any comments from you experience?

Thanks
 






Timken, National, and SKF should all be good seals. Standard Gear is probably fine too. I wouldn't put Dorman anything in there. You want this thing to last another 100K miles or so ... it's not the place to scrimp a couple dollars.

The proper way to set the tension is to use a beam-type inch-pound torque wrench to check the amount of preload, and tighten it down until you get to the right preload. If you are just replacing the seal, many people use the procedure you mentioned of marking the nut and returning it to the same position. There is no way to do that with a new nut. Put loctite on the old nut and it should be fine.
 






Just to follow up, put in the Dorman kit with new pinion flange, pinion nut and seal. Torqued new nut to 120 ft-lbs as suggested by others, checked rotational torque in inch lbs and was still the same as with the original flange and nut. Dorman seal looked just like the original seal. It must take more than 120 ft lbs to crush the original already crushed crush seal since the rotational torque was the same before and after.

Now we will see how long it lasts, so far ~ 100 miles and no leaks. If it fails again, I will just go pull a rear end from the local pull a part. I think they are about $60.
 






When I replaced mine I used a National Seal, been 5k and not a drop leaking yet, picked it up from my local pitstop at dealer cost, happy I finally stopped the leak.
 






Just to follow up, over 12k miles since installation including multiple, long, heavy trailer towing trips. No leaks at the seal and bearing doing fine with no issues.
 






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