Pinion bearing trashed?

[Beejis60]

I don't have any experience effing with a pinion, so thought I'd ask. Was dropping in the LSD tonight after getting the right shims finally, but after I installed the diff, there was a wretched sound when turning the pinion. Took out the LSD, and the pinion bearing sounds like crap, like a clinging sound, which wasn't there before... There also feels like some resistance/dragging when I turn the pinion w/o the LSD in there. I just squirted some 10w in it to see if it helped; the sound mostly went away but the dragging persisted. I cleaned out the diff housing with a bunch of toluene earlier in the night, but I highly doubt that would eff up the bearing.
Think it's worth it just to replace the bearing since I have it apart now? I can't see any metal shavings or loose rolling elements, just the sound and drag.

[Def]

You'll probably have to reset pinion height via shims after replacing the bearing.

IMO, just get a new open diff and swap the stuff over. They're so cheap that it'll be way cheaper than trying to get yours running. Usually by the time you have bearing problems they all need to be replaced and the shims redone which is $$$ and/or lots of time.

[McCoy]

^^^ What he said. Just ask Matt how much it can cost to have a shop to do the work for you, $$$

[Tower240sx]

I'll third that stance

If you are local I may have one I could give you

[Beejis60]

You'll probably have to reset pinion height via shims after replacing the bearing.

IMO, just get a new open diff and swap the stuff over. They're so cheap that it'll be way cheaper than trying to get yours running. Usually by the time you have bearing problems they all need to be replaced and the shims redone which is $$$ and/or lots of time.

Orly? I would have thought the bearings can just be tossed on and gtg without reshimming... fml

^^^ What he said. Just ask Matt how much it can cost to have a shop to do the work for you, $$$

I do all the work myself, it's not hard, just money for the bearings and shims and shyt.

I'll third that stance

If you are local I may have one I could give you

Damn, I'm opposite of the country from you in NY. I know of a junk yard nearby that has a few s13s and a few guys on a local board that have some that I'll try to turn to. Might be a stupid question, but if I find an non-abs (assuming they made them) S14 diff, I could just use that and swap on my diff cover, no?

[CodyAce]

S14 diff's have different mounting to the chassis than s13.


I'd say put the new pinion bearing in (cheap) and install it all and goto town. Being that the pinion isn't a crush washer type it should be good enough. YOu'd be surprised out out people setup their diff's and they are quiet as can be and never have any issues. Just spread some prussian blue/crayons on the geras and spin them around to check for proper contact.

[Matt93SE]

you can swap an S13 diff into an S14 pretty easy. just use some solid mount bushings on the back, change the rear cover, and use a couple washers to space the front end properly. done.

[Tower240sx]

matt i think he is trying s14->s13..

I thought there was a crush sleeve in the pinion assembly Cody,

I have always left the pinion in the case and if the bearing is bad, just throw it out with the baby....errr bath water or something

[Matt93SE]

Either way, just swap the rear cover and "figure out" the front bushings. the S14 has a big bushing with the same bolt spacing. just cut down a stock bushing to fit, swap the rear cover, and voila.

[CodyAce]

I thought there was a crush sleeve in the pinion assembly Cody,

They have a little washer, then a big spacer, then pinion depth spacer/washer dealio...there isn't any crush type washer in the assembly, you torque it to a certain yield (be damned if I remember right now haha) and give er hell with a nice burnout.

[marcinko]

you can swap an S13 diff into an S14 pretty easy. just use some solid mount bushings on the back, change the rear cover, and use a couple washers to space the front end properly. done.

When I went from a s14 to s13 diff (on my s14) I noticed the front bushing tabs on the s14 diff were slightly lower than the s13s to make up for the bushing space so I did not need to space anything. After changing the cover and getting the shorter s13 bolts for the front it all bolted together fine with no noticeable change in driveshaft angle.

I was thinking of doing something similar to SPLs old subframe bushings by putting a thin rubber washer in between the diff tabs and subframe to maybe reduce some noise though...? Just a thought.

My question is where do you get solid bushings for this location?>


I always worry about too much stress on that front mounting location due to still using those stock bushings pictured above.

As for replacing the pinion bearing I'd just do what others recommended and get a new pumpkin/diff that is in good shape.

[Matt93SE]

http://splparts.com/store/product-info.php?pid215.html

[Beejis60]

All good info in here, thanks

[Beejis60]

Pinion Bearing replacement

I couldn't find a used diff around so I went ahead and bought new bearings and took it to the local machine shop to have them press out the old bearings and put in new ones. For whatever reason now, the bearing preload seems to be extremely high. I've not measure with an inch/lb torque wrench as I do not have one, however the pinion requires quite a bit of force from my hand to start to turn it and due to this high initial torque, it obviously doesn't remain spinning even after I try to get it to spin....
Anyone ever encounter this? Is it possible the dude that rebuilt it mixed up the front and rear bearings or he had the front and rear shims mixed up?

[Def]

Spec is 8 lbf from one of the ring gear bolt heads for breakaway torque. It should not start rotating "easily" by hand.