Gear noise and pinion nut torque
 

Is it normal to have a little gear noise when increasing speed while using 3.73 Richmond gears. Also, does anyone know what the torque for the pinion nut is supposed to be. I had to replace the drive flang on the pinion and I'm not sure what to torque it at.

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'93 GT
Richmond 3.73 gears, BBK equal length ceramic coated shorties, BBK cat H-pipe, Flowmaster American Thunder cat back, 73mm mass air, BBK 190 lph fuel pump, Hurst shifter, K&N Filter Charger, Center Force Clutch, Aluminum drive shaft.

If you've replaced the pinion flange, you've disturbed the crush sleeve. This means that you'll have to start over with the pinion preload process. Put a fresh crush sleeve in and use a new pinion nut (for the locking compound). Without the differential in the housing, crush the sleeve until you've got between 12 and 18 >>in-lbs<< of running torque on the pinion bearings. If you're installing new bearings, the torque is 20-28 >>in-lbs<<. The sleeve can only be crushed one time. If you try to reuse it, you'll just end up preloading the pinion bearing too heavily, leading to their early demise.
I'd suspect this is the source of your noise.

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Jeff Chambers
Trophy Stock #3
11.97 Seconds / 114.5 MPH http://www.kellnet.com/chambers

[This message has been edited by jeff chambers (edited 01-03-2001).]

I second jeff chambers notion!