I'm rebuilding my rear end, new diff bearing, pinion bearing and axle bearings and new exciter ring for the ABS to hopefully get my ABS working again since a few teeth were chewed up.
Issue I'm having is torque specs conflicting between the 96 and 98 FSM .pdf that I have. I don't have a 97.

98 FSM:
Pinion pre-load says 15-35 inch pounds
New Ring Gear bolts says 115 ft lbs.

96 FSM:
Pinion pre-load says 20-30 inch pounds
New ring gear bolts says 75 ft lbs

I find it hard to believe between 96 and 98 these torque specs are that off. currently I'm at 30 inch pounds for my pinion nut(yoke seems awful tight, not binding of course, but def at 30 inch pounds), and 75 ft lbs on my ring bolts. Can anyone verify this for me? Does anyone have a link to the 97 specific FSM??

thanks in advance.

 

I think running your pinion preload that high isn't going to make you happy. May want to remove a shim there.....

As for the ring gear bolts. Yeah, that does seem awfully strange. Most places I am finding state 115 for the ring gear bolts.....

 

there is only one shim in the pinion, it uses a crush sleeve.. so wouldn't 30 inch pounds be ok? it's in tolerance as far as i can tell from these two FSM's.

 

How's pinion depth? Were the bearings well lubed before installation? (dry bearings turn harder.)

 

I did oil the new bearing w/ diff oil prior to install. Haven't measured pinion depth or know how. curios why i wouldn't be happy though? you think at 30 inch pounds might burn up the bearing quickly or affect driveability?

 

also note on this page, it states 15-35 inch on pinion and 115 on ring, is this for all 9.25 chrysler rears? http://dodgeram.org/tech/specs/axle/9_25specs.html

 

That link is where I got my data from. I seriously doubt much changed on the axle in two years, to make torque specs change so much. For pinion rotational torque, I note that the limits have been moved in, which seems perfectly reasonable. Its just a narrower range of 'acceptable'.

I suspect that having the pinion preload that tight may be noisy......

If you changed the front pinion bearing (the big one, right behind the gear, technically, I think it should be the 'rear' bearing, as it is further toward the rear......) did you replace the shims that were there previously?

 

open the 96-97 link, page 3-75 states 70 ft pounds for ring gear and on page 3-63 states 75 ft lbs. I'm at a loss here.. https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...e-manuals.html

 

the rear larger bearing next to gear and the front smaller bearing next to pinion nut/yoke/seal were both changed. there was a factory shim that the FSM say re-use, it goes under the rear bearing that is pressed on the pinion next to the gear. there is only one shim. thought that was the purpose of having the crush sleeve to help alleviate having to shim, measure, shim measure??

 

ok, just reviewed the 94/95/96 FSM all are 20-30 inch pounds for pinion preload, and 75ft lbs for ring gear bolts. 98/2001 which are linked above w/ 99 and 2000 fsms, all state 15-35 inch pounds for pinion bearing pre-load and 115 ft lbs for ring bolts.

should I simply go w/ the later FSM's, did they figure something out that wasn't noticed in 94-96? I believe I'll be fine w/ 30 inch pounds, but definately scratching my head on whether or not to torque something to 115 from 75 ft lbs. that's a big difference IMO.

thoughts???