Also, do you recommend replacing the crush sleeve or have any of you had success obtaining the proper preload settings reusing the crush sleeve? Could the crush sleeve be "reshaped"?
Lastly, I did not notice any orientation marks on the u-joint yoke when I removed it from the pinion. Is orientation critical?
Thank you in advance,
Mark
question #1: I can be no help on.
question#2: I have reused the crush sleeves before. It is best to always replace the pinion nut (because they are prone to backing off). Usually, without bearing replacements, I would not be concerned with the crush sleeve. If I DID replace any bearings, I might add a shim that is a few thousandths thick fore or aft of the original sleeve, you usually can get the sleeve to crush a bit more, that can help get the pinion preload set to specs.
question #3: I have virtually never marked a pinion's orientation at disassembly and to date for over 40 years changing pinion seals and/or rear end bearings, have not found a good reason to do so. I will add this, I imagine the rear end or yoke COULD have been balanced after assembling the third member, but any advantage to doing that might only be on a ratio over 4:11 and up, given the much higher RPM's they would have...not typical on an 8 inch ford to go higher than 3:50's.