Front diff pinion seal replacement on 98 Tahoe

Hello all,

I need to replace the pinion seal on the front differential of my 98 Tahoe 4x4. I'm not too worried about removing the driveshaft, pinion yoke, or the old seal... or installing the new seal for that matter.

The part I'm a little unsure of is reinstalling the pinion yoke, more specifically the pinion nut. I've ready up as much as I can on this forum and others about the subject and nothing is really crystal clear. Is there some kind of preload that has to be set up before the nut can be tightened up? And what torque is the nut to be tightened to?

Thanks,
Dion

first off are you sure it's leaking?? remember the oil filter is directly above the front diff yoke so it gets soaked in oil everytime the filter is removed. anyways the nut is tightened untill there is a certain rolling resistance on the pinion bearings which is measured with an in-lb dial or deflection beam torque wrench. the recomended method is to measure the torque before removing the nut then to tighen it until it is about 3-5 in-lb's higher when re-installed. the alternative to screwing around with torque wrenches is to mark the position of the nut to the shaft to the yoke with a punch. it's also a good idea to put locktite on the pinion nut and driveshaft bolts before reinstalling them