In car pinion flange swap?

rockthemullet

rockthemullet

Forum Member
Would it be possible for me to swap pinion flanges in my cobra without taking the center section out? I know the flange is held in by the big nut in the center, which is holding it to the pinion. If I remove the nut and pull the flange off, will I be messing up any gear alignments?

I really don't want to pull the center section and take it somewhere.

~Eric
 
Eric, the flange can be replaced in the vehicle. It would help to know, is the rear axle original, as in never touched, or does it have a aftermarket gear and possibly a solid spacer instead of a crush sleeve. With a solid spacer, its simple. Remove the nut, remove the flange(you may need a pullet to remove it) reinstall the flange, loctite the threads and tighten the nut.
With a crush sleeve, it helps to mark the nut and pinion with a center punch, and tighten the crush sleeve just slightly tighter than it was originally. I would leave the later to someone that has experience.
 
The rear end has a Torsen T2R, 4.10 gears, and 31 spline halfshafts. I'm fairly confident a crush sleeve is still being used.

Everything you said sound good. I had someone tell me that I should take the wheels off of the car, disengage the ebrake, and measure the force it takes to turn the flange with an in.lb. torque wrench. Then when reinstalling, torque the nut down to the same as measured before. I like the center punch idea a bit better.

~Eric
 
Eric, the internals make no difference. the goal is to return the preload of the pinion bearings to the same/then slightly tighter.
Leave the nut too loose and it will back off and cause damage to the ring & pinion. Over tighten it, and the pinion bearings will fail in a short period of time. Checking rotating preload with a inch pound torque wrench is not that bad of a idea, but with all the internals installed it nearly impossible to get a accurate reading. With enough experience, you can turn the flange by hand and "feel" the preload (and grumbly pinion bearings too).
 
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