I have searched several sites, including this one and am getting conflicting information. I have a 98 High Pinion Dana 30 front axle that I need to know which process to use to tighten the pinion nut after a seal install. Do I measure resistance with a torque wrench before taking it off, and re tighten it to the same resistance?
OR..... Do I torque it to 210 ft. lbs. ?

 

well you have to toruqe it with a torque wrench that has a dial on it and its should be in pounds per square inch.. not sure but if i remember right it is not a ft pound torque.. it has to preload the bearing with a certain amount of torque and then you have to go a certain number of degrees and check your gear lash and crap.. not too sure on the whole process hopefully someone on here knows about setting up gears and can help you but im pretty sure its not just as easy as put the nut on and torque it to 210 ft pounds

 

usually, well, what i do is i mark the yoke and nut with a punch or sharpie before i take it part, then when I'm done replacing the seal, i line up the marks I've made and call it a day. I've never had any problems with this so far.

but since you got it all part, I can look at a 98 FSM tomorrow and see what I can find. I work at a ex-jeep dealer and they have the FSM of some jeeps still in the back room. I'll check it out.

 

That would be great. Nothing like the FSM. I do know that some 30's the torque is 210 ft lbs. and some are done with an inch pound wrench like stated above. The Chiltons and Haynes lists both ways as well as some other threads I have found. I'll be checking back, and thanks for your help.

 

i dug through 2 boxes of books but didnt find the book i was looking for. Found a AW4 tech manual tho,... I dont work wednesday for thrusday, but work friday and saturday.

 

Thanks for looking. Anybody else know for sure?

 

Found the 98 FSM, it said to record the amount of turning resistance in Inch pounds before dissembling, then when reassembling, torque the nut down to 160 foot pounds, then measure the resistance, and increase the torque to the nut in 5 foot pounds increments until the the resistance is what the recorded one is, then add another 5 foot pounds to the pinion nut and call it a day.

 

Thanks for looking that up for me. I got it taken care of the right way thanks to you.