12 bolt axle
 

I will preface with I have no clue when it comes to working on them. I thought I was doing a simple pinion seal change not knowing about everything before hand. I removed the yoke, popped the old seal off that was leaking a little, put new seal in and then found out I may have messed up. I tightened the pinion nut up too tight to the point I almost could not turn anything by hand. How bad did I mess up and what needs to happen at this point? This is in my 72 blazer that I am working on. I would rather get it solved now vs on the side of the road later.

Thanks

Re: 12 bolt axle
 

It needs the crush washer replaced and the preload reset. It will have to come apart to do this right.

Re: 12 bolt axle
 

SO I am assuming to do that would require specialty tools and a little more knowledge than I am comfortable with doing. Time to find someone local willing to come here and do that i guess. I assume this is what I need to order or should I leave that to whoever is going to do it?

Re: 12 bolt axle
 

I just paid a differential shop $1200 to rebuild a 12-Bolt core with new axles, ring gears and bearings, etc. Money well spent. Too many fine details for an amateur to mess with.
If you have a shop and all the tools and are trained for it that's another thing.
But a rear end is not a simple DIY deal.

Re: 12 bolt axle
 

I found a local shop that is actually willing to come here this weekend and take a look at it. I had him put an eaton posi unit in my work truck several years back so hoping he can get me straight on this.

Re: 12 bolt axle
 

Great. Differential guys are usually pretty good.
I had a 12-Bolt rearend rebuilt at Tucson Differential for my '67 K/10 Suburban in 1997. New Moser axles, Bearings, shims, new Auburn Posi. Suburban went down in '99 due to an engine fire. I parked it. The factory 12-Bolt Eaton Posi rear under my '71 Jimmy lunched in 2010. I was broke, so we cannibalized the Sub's rear and put it under the Jimmy. Still running good.
My '68 C/10 Stepside got T-Boned last month, crunching a 12-Bolt diff with Eaton Posi. I bought a '65 MY 12-Bolt rear from a fellow K/5 collector, $200 for the core. I took the core to Tucson Diff. They totally rebuilt it with new axles, bearings, shims, 3.73 ring and pinion etc. for slightly over $1200. The manager had worked there 25 years ago, but we couldn't remember if he worked on the Auburn job. Anyway they still do good work. And adjusted for inflation, it's pretty cheap.

Re: 12 bolt axle
 

Couldn't you just use a shim of about .010" or .020" thickness and tighten a new nut to get to the desired preload?

Years ago I bought a Jeep that had a leaking pinion seal due to the nut backing off. I replaced it and a new nut with loctite on the threads and just tightened it to the point of yield of the sleeve. A final stake of the nut ensured that it would not come off again, which it did not for the ensuing years that I owned it.