sjfehr

Blew the pinion seal last Thursday driving down 64. Rear end was making some terrible noises, and smoking so badly, I thought it was on fire! Turns out I (most likely) just blew the pinion seal. The diff was bone dry when I popped off the cover, just a few drips left. Doesn't look to be any damage, though. So, I was just going to replace the leaky seal and consider myself lucky.

I was going to do it myself, but screw it, I'm too lazy. I opened up the diff tonight, but I really don't like working under cars, and the thought of fighting with the pinion nut while my car's up on ramps... heh. If anyone's interested in coming to my house (Deep Creek) to finish the repair for me, I'll give you $50 I'll provide all the parts if you've got the tools. (I've got wrenches and sockets and all, but no impact hammer or breaker bars...) I did pick up a loaner axle nut set from the auto store, but I haven't checked yet to see if it fits.

FYI, I soaked everything in pbblaster last night- even though they've been rusting on for 15 years, the diff bolts came RIGHT out, which bodes very well for the rest of it. The pinion nut itself looks practically rust free (about the same condition as the U-joint in the photo below). Might be an easy $50.

Need to:
Replace the pinion seal (I *think* this just involves undoing 4 bolts to undo the U-joint, then removing the pinion nut and replacing the seal.)
Reinstall the diff cover plate and top off the diff fluid

'94 Camaro, 3.4L V6





If you're interested, please PM me.

Brennan

That pinion seal has been leaking for years by the looks of it, I'm thinking that the diff has been running low/empty for alot longer than you think. Good luck either way

sjfehr

It didn't start making noise until about the time it started smoking, and I've never seen an oil spot below it. There's still a coat of oil on all the gears and there's much less little metal on the magnet than I'd expect for a differential with 160k miles, so I'm optimistic there's no damage beyond the seal.

C Ory

Just so you know, you have to torque that pinion nut correctly when reassembling, or some bad things can/will happen. If the crush sleeve gets over/under torqued, you're pretty much looking at rebuilding the rear end.

sjfehr

So nobody's interested?

Edit: whelp, too late, just got the hardest parts done. I'm just gonna finish it myself now.