Technical '49 Ford Pinion Gear--Rookie Mechanic

Some months back, after little usage of the vehicle, I noticed a trail of gear oil near a rear wheel. A friend who is a mechanic for a large utility company crawled under and indicated that it was a pinion seal leak. I bought a Ford manual, watched some videos and when I went to disconnect the drive shaft, realized that the four bolts were almost hand loose (about 1/4 turn each with a wrench and I could easily remove them by hand). I'm not sure that this issue, nor lack of use might have caused that seal to leak, but I tightened the bolts, filled up the tranny with gear oil, took it for a short spin and after two hours, not a drop leaking. Did I just get lucky or is there some science involved here?

 

Did you fill the rear end with oil, or only the transmission? If the rear was leaking, and it's all leaked out, it won't leak any more....

 

My bad, it was the rear end I filled with oil. Had to scrape away years worth of grease just to find the plug. Took about 1/2 qt of 90w, GL5. Thanks for your correction.

 

I don't know how you could have fixed the leak, by tightening up the U joint retaining bolts.

If it's working now, keep an eye on it, and drive and enjoy.

 

Alas, after a 5 mile drive, the leak has re-appeared. One problem I had when trying to install the new seal was that I couldn't get the nut off after dis-connecting the driveshaft. The Ford manual lists a tool from the 1940's that doesn't appear to be available. This isn't your usual throw a ratchet onto the nut and pull it as there's a "tit" atop the nut. The part that once connected to the driveshaft kept turning as I ratcheted; I attached a pipe wrench to hold it in place, but the nut still wouldn't turn. Gonna try some Power Blaster tomorrow as maybe the nut hasn't been moved in decades, but I don't want to make a bad situation worse. Any ideas?

 

I think maybe not enough torque applied.

 

Time for an impact wrench.

 

Or, tense-pull on, the IMPACT socket 'drive' bar, and TAP bar handle end w/a hammer. (No ratchet need appy here)
Then, if esp. stubborn...use this method in tighten-loosen sequence. Pretend you & mallet mimic the air wrench.

 

The pinion nut was probably put on with 200+ ft/lbs of torque.
I don’t think putting PB blaster, etc, will help much.
An impact wrench is probably going to be needed.

 

You wrote that the leak was near a wheel. Wouldn't that be a wheel/axle seal and not the pinion leaking?

 

After having his mechanic friend look at it they determined it was the pinon seal.