Gm 14bolt yoke bolt not lined up

[Chuckanut]

Hey guys I Took my yolk off my rear axle because I was putting in a overdrive unit and I wanted to replace the pinion seal on the axle while the driveshaft was out and I marked the bolt with a paint pen and I used some carb cleaner and it came off of the splines but it was still on the bolt, but I went back to some pictures and I could pinpoint what orientation everything was in so I could put the bolt back on and the problem I’m running into is that i’m watching videos you’re supposed to put the bolt exactly back to where the paint marks lineup but when I put my boat back on the yolk fully seated is a quarter turn more than where the paint marks lineup. Is this normal did I break some thing has happened to anybody else what should I do? Thanks guys

 

[Welder1]

Ok I was waiting to see if anyone else would respond but none did. I have rebuilt many rears but have not done a 14 bolt unit. I did some research and they use a crush sleeve to set the pinion bearing preload. Putting the nut back at the same location is to keep the preload the same. That's really not the way to do it. The proper way it to remove the pinion carrier and disassemble it and install a new crush sleeve and reset the pinion preload for used bearings. If you don't have the proper tools to hold the yoke and torque the pinion nut take it to someone that does. It takes tremendous torque to do some of these. The 14 bolt has a removable pinion carrier similar to a 9" ford unit just bigger.



Eddie C

 

[Valley Rock]

I think it was the wording that may have threw some folks, the yoke is held on by a nut threading onto the pinion, holding the yoke in place .

Pull the nut back off clean the threads and put a couple drops of blue loctite on them, reinstall and give nut a couple quick wacks with an impact if you have one, till you fill a bit of friction .

Stop .

Reinstall driveline and drive .

 

[Chuckanut]

Ok I was waiting to see if anyone else would respond but none did. I have rebuilt many rears but have not done a 14 bolt unit. I did some research and they use a crush sleeve to set the pinion bearing preload. Putting the nut back at the same location is to keep the preload the same. That's really not the way to do it. The proper way it to remove the pinion carrier and disassemble it and install a new crush sleeve and reset the pinion preload for used bearings. If you don't have the proper tools to hold the yoke and torque the pinion nut take it to someone that does. It takes tremendous torque to do some of these. The 14 bolt has a removable pinion carrier similar to a 9" ford unit just bigger.



Eddie C

Is there a way to tell if I need to replace it or not?