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Outstanding work, Andy! when will Rachel get to see it in person?

Replacing the crush sleeve appears to be do-able from where I am right now. The only additional work is pulling the half shafts and that requires disconnecting a tie rod and the ujoint cap bolts. I saw it on youtube. Not a tough job. I had a conversation with Thomas at East Coast gear and he did not...

Here is what I did not realize and the source of my confusion in forum conversations... Factory D44 equipped C4 Corvettes used shims to set the pinion preload until the 1994 model year - that is when Dana changed to a crush sleeve for the pinion preload. If you're changing the gears in your 1985-199...

Too late. Using the wrong technique, I put too much pressure on the crush sleeve. Gotta start all over again.

Boy was I wrong!! Somewhat misled by internet posts and some cryptic service manual instructions, I was working on the assumption that just torqueing the pinion nut to 200 lb/ft was all that was left to do. I subsequently learned that that would have been true if I was working with a Dana 36 differe...

I struggled with the new pinion seal this afternoon. I finally got it started and tapped it in. Then I installed the Speedy Sleeve on the pinion yoke shaft. It was definitely nowhere as easy as in the videos. At first, I started by using the JB Weld on the groove, but it was an impediment to getting...

Good advice, GM. The instructions don't mention that. They do, however, talk about using JB Weld as a filler for deep grooves and install the sleeve before the filler hardens. My yoke shaft has a definite groove but it is very thin and not very deep, but I'm wondering if I should use the JB Weld any...

A couple of key parts arrived today. I expect to start tomorrow moving in a positive direction on this project by installing the new pinion seal and the pinion yoke with its new Speedi-Sleeve, followed by emptying the old lube out of the Dana 44HD and installing fresh stuff.

Disappointing day today. The used C beam that I ordered was delivered and when I unboxed it, I saw that it was not as good as the one I have. It's going back. I also received the pinion yoke that I had ordered. This was also not going to work. It looked great in all the dimensions, but it requires u...

GM, I wish you had posted this yesterday. I was aware of these sleeves, but the idea didn't percolate to the forefront of my thinking. Sometimes I get so focused on something, I don't take the time to consider alternatives. Anyway, yesterday, I learned enough about yokes, u-joints and their sizes an...

While cleaning up the pinion yoke, I noticed a groove on the splined shaft on which the seal rides. It is very narrow with some roughness in the groove. My finger nail would not catch on it, but I can imagine this as a possible source for a constant, but small leak. I'm thinking of replacing the yok...

This morning I made it to my objective! I tried a two foot breaker bar on the pinion nut, but it would not budge because there was too much "springiness" in the rear suspension. So I turned to my trusty "Earthquake" Harbor Freight impact wrench. No problem. Off it came. IMG_2230....

A small, but satisfying step today. I installed the tail shaft seal in the ZF. IMG_2225.JPG It went in fairly easily. First, I prepared the bevel that guides the seal into the hole. With a stone, I removed the burrs, etc inflicted by removing the old seal and then took my time to make the bevel as s...

OK, I've spent too many hours searching and researching the web to find a C beam better than mine. It appears futile, so it's going back together as is. I expect it will be fine with the addition of the beam plates for added support at the connecting joints. Now on to the installation of the seals. ...

Andy, I've been soaking the pinion nut with Deep Creep for a couple of days and I will try both a breaker bar and secondly, an impact wrench if needed. We will see how that goes. Regarding the elongated holes in the C beam, here is information about the C beam plates that addresses that: 1. Advantag...