Do I have a pinion yoke runout problem?
- Thread starter roger1
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sorry, I missed that...have you pulled the axles to check to see if the bearing race is worn or if they are bent?
Yes, done that too. Everything appears in really good shape.
The car (and rear) only has 75K miles on it. I put the low mileage Camaro 3.42 gear set and the new Auburn posi in it 26K miles ago.
Ordered a new Yukon pinion yoke from Jegs. It appears it's the only choice. Found a deal on a new 0 to 30 in-lb dial type torque wrench on ebay a few minutes ago and bought it too
My measuring today with the dial indicator didn't prove anything but if I assume my brand new driveshaft is balanced correctly, All that's left is the pinon yoke. Plus in my searching I've found several other reports of problems with factory pinion yokes that don't become evident until the gear ratios are lowered.
The car (and rear) only has 75K miles on it. I put the low mileage Camaro 3.42 gear set and the new Auburn posi in it 26K miles ago.
Ordered a new Yukon pinion yoke from Jegs. It appears it's the only choice. Found a deal on a new 0 to 30 in-lb dial type torque wrench on ebay a few minutes ago and bought it too
My measuring today with the dial indicator didn't prove anything but if I assume my brand new driveshaft is balanced correctly, All that's left is the pinon yoke. Plus in my searching I've found several other reports of problems with factory pinion yokes that don't become evident until the gear ratios are lowered.
I had a slightly tweaked axle flange that gave the symptoms you described. The one thing you mentioned that makes me wonder about it is that you say it's the same at steady speed as well as accel and decel. In my experience, drivetrain components will generally be affected by accel/decel (at speed) where as axles and wheels/tires are strictly speed sensitive.
Just throwing the axle out as a possibility. I'm assuming your wheels are true and tires are balanced.
Just throwing the axle out as a possibility. I'm assuming your wheels are true and tires are balanced.
I've thought of this kind of thing as a possibility but I think I ruled it out when I tested the car on jack stands with the wheels off. The wheels and tires would accentuate a vibration caused by a tweaked axle flange. Since I duplicated the vibration on jack stands and I've had the axles out for inspection, I'm positive I don't have a problem with those. Also, there's no visual wobble with or without the tires and wheels mounted. Looked at them closely while on jack stands.
Will do.
I ended up switching my order for the yoke to Rock Auto. I got a new nut and Timken seal too.
Here's a link to the torque wrench I've got coming:
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-5...0001&campid=5335822911&icep_item=283026999899
Here it is on the manufacturer site:
http://www.seekonk.com/prod-24-1-10...rame-dial-type-torque-wrench-0-30-in-lbs-.htm
Update:
I got my new yoke from Rock Auto yesterday. I ordered and received Yukon part# 41088.
I was surprised to see this one was for the triple lip type seal and the new stock seal I got will not fit this yoke.
There shows to be 2 yokes you can get (#41088 and #41090) and the #41088 is the cheaper of the 2 by about $25.
I figured the cheaper #41088 one would be the standard seal version but it is not.
I really have no idea what the difference is between the 2 yokes.
Here they are on the Yukon website:
YUKON YOKES
Anyway, I didn't know what to do. Send this back or get another seal that would work. I tried to get hold of Yukon Tech support but could not get them to answer. So, I tried tech support at Randy's Ring and Pinion and they were able to help me.
The guy said I have the yoke that is for later model cars and I had 2 options. One was to get the newer style seal with the larger center hole or take the sleeve off the yoke and use a new stock seal. He said in order to remove the sleeve, I'd need to split it carefully using a chisel.
I was afraid of scoring the shaft seal surface under the sleeve using a chisel so I opted to get another seal. I found which one to use fairly easy from the O'Reilly Auto Parts web site as they list the specs for the outer and inner sizes on the seals. The newer style seal is National 710474 and they had one in stock so I went down and got it.
Another thing I had to do to make this yoke fit is to trim a protrusion off the rear end housing casting. The oil slinger on this yoke is a larger diameter than the stock one and it wont clear this protrusion. Easy to do with a cut-off tool.
After completing that I installed the new seal and yoke. I put RTV on the splines of the yoke and put red Loctite on the threads of the new nut.
My new dial type in-lb torque wrench worked great. Before removing the old yoke, I measured 19 in-lbs to move the pinion with the brake drums removed.
When I installed the new yoke, I had to torque the nut to approximately 160 ft-lbs to obtain that same 19 in-lbs of torque needed to rotate the pinion. My 1/2 drive torque wrench only goes to 150 ft-lbs and that was 17 in-lbs to rotate. One more small push with my breaker bar was needed to reach that 19 in-lbs of torque to rotate.
I didn't get totally finished yesterday in order to test drive. It was raining out anyway so it didn't matter.
But, I did do some measuring with my dial indicator again though and see a positive change.
I measured to the u-joint caps again and set zero on one of the caps that is secured in the pinion yoke. Moved 180 degrees and measured the other one. Still zero so it is a perfect match.
Measuring at the caps secured in the driveshaft yoke weren't perfect but were a lot closer than before. One cap was .006 more than the caps on the pinion yoke and the other one was .011 more. So those 2 caps have a difference of .005.
Will test drive today if there is a break in the rain.
I got my new yoke from Rock Auto yesterday. I ordered and received Yukon part# 41088.
I was surprised to see this one was for the triple lip type seal and the new stock seal I got will not fit this yoke.
There shows to be 2 yokes you can get (#41088 and #41090) and the #41088 is the cheaper of the 2 by about $25.
I figured the cheaper #41088 one would be the standard seal version but it is not.
I really have no idea what the difference is between the 2 yokes.
Here they are on the Yukon website:
YUKON YOKES
Anyway, I didn't know what to do. Send this back or get another seal that would work. I tried to get hold of Yukon Tech support but could not get them to answer. So, I tried tech support at Randy's Ring and Pinion and they were able to help me.
The guy said I have the yoke that is for later model cars and I had 2 options. One was to get the newer style seal with the larger center hole or take the sleeve off the yoke and use a new stock seal. He said in order to remove the sleeve, I'd need to split it carefully using a chisel.
I was afraid of scoring the shaft seal surface under the sleeve using a chisel so I opted to get another seal. I found which one to use fairly easy from the O'Reilly Auto Parts web site as they list the specs for the outer and inner sizes on the seals. The newer style seal is National 710474 and they had one in stock so I went down and got it.
Another thing I had to do to make this yoke fit is to trim a protrusion off the rear end housing casting. The oil slinger on this yoke is a larger diameter than the stock one and it wont clear this protrusion. Easy to do with a cut-off tool.
After completing that I installed the new seal and yoke. I put RTV on the splines of the yoke and put red Loctite on the threads of the new nut.
My new dial type in-lb torque wrench worked great. Before removing the old yoke, I measured 19 in-lbs to move the pinion with the brake drums removed.
When I installed the new yoke, I had to torque the nut to approximately 160 ft-lbs to obtain that same 19 in-lbs of torque needed to rotate the pinion. My 1/2 drive torque wrench only goes to 150 ft-lbs and that was 17 in-lbs to rotate. One more small push with my breaker bar was needed to reach that 19 in-lbs of torque to rotate.
I didn't get totally finished yesterday in order to test drive. It was raining out anyway so it didn't matter.
But, I did do some measuring with my dial indicator again though and see a positive change.
I measured to the u-joint caps again and set zero on one of the caps that is secured in the pinion yoke. Moved 180 degrees and measured the other one. Still zero so it is a perfect match.
Measuring at the caps secured in the driveshaft yoke weren't perfect but were a lot closer than before. One cap was .006 more than the caps on the pinion yoke and the other one was .011 more. So those 2 caps have a difference of .005.
Will test drive today if there is a break in the rain.
Vibration problem licked!!
It was the factory yoke that was the problem.
After that first test drive it was way, way better but I thought I still felt a hint of vibration. Then I decided to take the Energy Suspension urethane transmission mount out and put that new stock rubber one I had. I had to fabricate a 3/4" spacer in order to do that so my driveline angles would stay the same. (I had a 1/2" spacer on the urethane one.)
Just test drove a little while ago and it's now perfectly smooth all the way to 90 mph.
It was the factory yoke that was the problem.
After that first test drive it was way, way better but I thought I still felt a hint of vibration. Then I decided to take the Energy Suspension urethane transmission mount out and put that new stock rubber one I had. I had to fabricate a 3/4" spacer in order to do that so my driveline angles would stay the same. (I had a 1/2" spacer on the urethane one.)
Just test drove a little while ago and it's now perfectly smooth all the way to 90 mph.
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