I got my driveshaft out of my Ranger to be serviced this week. I thought about putting a new pinion seal in to replace the one that a lousy shop botched and still weeps fluid. How much of a pain is it to pull off that pinion flange and re-mount it without causing a balance issue?
It's a lot more complicated than you think. You can't just replace the seal and bolt it back together. The pinion flange has nothing to do with balance. When the seal is replaced and the flange installed, there has to be to correct amount of pinion lash and a new crush sleeve, then the nut needs to be torqued to a point where the break away, measured in pound on a pull scale, is at specifications. You really need the factory shop manual to do this job correctly.
The idiots at the shop put it in deeper at the top than the bottom, and it seeps. I figured I may as well get it fixed correctly with the driveshaft being out. The U-joints are still smooth moving, but one flops right over when you tilt the shaft, so I'm going to get them all replaced while the shaft gets balanced.
Also, check to see if there's a groove worn into the companion flange shaft where it rides in the seal. You might want to get a new companion flange. A lot like a harmonic balancer develops a groove from the front main seal.
Something I read said to mark the position of the flange nut relative to the flange, and measure the distance from the end of the pinion shaft to the nut and write it down. Then reassemble it by making the marks line up the way they were, at the same distance down the pinion shaft. Will that keep any degree of accuracy?
No. It has to do with the amount of torque on the pinion shaft and its position relative to the ring gear.