Pinion hard to turn when nut is torqued

[forestgreen95gt]

I'm putting a new diff into my IRS cobra rear end. Part of the reason was a healthy bunch of noises from the old diff setup. Upon dismantling I checked backlash, pinion pre-load, and pinion depth. The backlash was fine although the carrier pre-load was very tight (I had to use a great deal of force to pry out the old diff). However, the pinion depth and pre-load was off. I am referencing torque specs from an article on this website. It claims a minimum of 140 ft-lbs on the pinion nut, and a pre-load of ~25 in-lbs. But when I torque the pinion nut to 140 ft-lbs the pinion flange is much more difficult to move by hand. I compared this to an old 95 rear axle I have laying around (that worked just fine) and it is much easier to move by hand.

Also, when I took off the pinion nut the companion flange just fell out. As it stands it fits with a lot of play. The pinion bearing in the diff case is loose as well. Is this normal?

Can anyone tell me if these torque specs are correct for a Cobra IRS? I'm thinking things may be a little different since the diff case is aluminum.

My Haynes Repair Manual little rear end rebuild info. Does anyone know of a another book that does? What I really need is a good detial exploded view diagram of everything.

 

[cobraracer46]

Hint: torquing the pinion nut all the way to the maximum torque in one step is incorrect. the right way is to torque the nut in small steps while checking the preload each time. I would also recommend that you spend the money on the good Ford shop manuals that the dealer uses, not the shit that you find at the auto parts store.oke:

 

[kxt]

are you using a new crush sleeve? If so it will take way more than 140ft/lbs to crush the sleeve.

 

[1999snake]

I would also recommend that you spend the money on the good Ford shop manuals that the dealer uses, not the shit that you find at the auto parts store.oke:

+1

It's been worth every penny I spent on it.

 

[forestgreen95gt]

Yeah...for sure i've thought about getting a Ford Service Manual for this. In general Haynes is pretty good though with preload info etc. But I had the gear swapped out by a shop 4 yrs ago and have had noises ever since.

I really need an good detailed exploded view diagram because it seems like the guy whom did the gear didn't put things back together properly.

And I'm not applying max torque , I'm applying the minimum torque of 140 ft-lbs. And when I do this I don't get the proper pre-load but the companion flange sticks a bit before it rotates.