I replaced the seal last year and it's still leaking. I have read your advice on the 12 bolt - leave seal about 1/16 to 1/8 from contacting the housing. Is the same true for the 8.2 10 bolt? I'd appreciate it if you could give me a brand name and part# of a seal that you've had good experiences with. I went to the Chevy dealer last time for a new seal and pinion nut. I assume I'm OK to re-use this pinion nut as it wasn't used to crush the sleeve.

Also - any hints on keeping the diff from spinning when I tourque the pinion nut back to 100ish lbs/ft? I tried it last time with the E-brake, and it didn't work. I just used my 1/2 drive impact gun, which will give 120 on a good day.

As usual, thanks!

You can try leaving the seal out of the housing a small amount if the pinion yoke will allow it. This puts the seal in a new position on the yoke. Is your yoke grooved deeply? If so you might want to replace it. I have taken the tension spring out of new seals and shortened them a small amount to make the seal fit tighter around the yoke. The spring ends unscrew and you can cut a small amount off the female side and screw it back together. There is a tool that bolts to the yoke to hold it when tightening the pinion nut. The socket goes through a hole in it. An air wrench can damage the teeth on the gears when using the ring gear to hold the pinion in place. I know most people do it anyway but I bought one just to be safe.

I am new to this and just realized you were asking a specific person (BGH)for info. I didn't mean to step ahead and be a "know it all". I certainly don't! I was just offering my 2 cents worth based on my years of work in this area. My apologies to both of you.

Well I'll jump right in and say that you did nothing wrong. I'm sure Al will take any and all advise he can get. BGH is just the long term expert so folks tend to ask specifically for his advise. The purpose of the forums are to share information so dive in whenever you feel you have something to contribute.

Sounds like some good advice to me. Sorry I wasn't here yesterday. For some reason I was running a fever and spent the day in bed.

I'm assuming that since you have read the posts about the 12 bolt seal that you have used selant around the outside of the seal and in the splines inside the yoke. I guess you also greased the lip of the seal. One improtant thing to consider is where it is leaking. If it is leaking around the yoke then you may have a groove in the yoke or a bad seal. If it is leaking around the outside of the seal then you may have a bad scratch in the housing or you might have bent the seal while driving it in. The reason I leave the seal out a little on the 12 bolt is because the replacement seals don't fit right. They can contact the outer pinion bearing if you drive it in all the way. This will damage the seal and give a false preload reading. The 10 bolt is not the same, but as 69cama said, it might help to locate the seal in an unused area of the yoke.

I always use Lock Tight on the threads of the pinion, even with a new nut. You can probably use the old nut again, but use Lock Tight on it. Torque it to about 150 foot pounds. You can use a large pipe wrench to hold the yoke while you tighten the nut.

Thanks to all for the info. No worries, 69Cama-I'll take all the help I can get!

I appreciate you guys attitude and I enjoy reading the posts. I like to help people when I can. I had a lot of help when I was coming up in my "Hot Rod" years and I always appreciated people taking the time to help me. I am always happy to share my "2 cents" worth if it can help someone.

cama, folks with your sharing attitude are always welcome and I wish all 16,000 members could each share something new or important like you did. Step in anytime and welcome to TC :)

Thanks, Jim and all of you Camaro lovers. I saw your car on your website. Nice looking car! I am starting to drive my 69 SS more this year since I added power steering. I had the parts to do it for years but just couldn't make myself do it. I put a new Rotary 2 post lift in my basement (13 foot ceiling) and now I'm looking for work to do. Next I will probably change the rear gears from 4.56's to 3.55's. I restored the car back in 1988 and changed every thing except the ring and pinion. I replaced the entire body including roof skin! The parts were so cheap I couldn't stop buying them. I bought it all from a local GM dealership for about $1900. I wish I had bought ten sets! Sorry to ramble on. I tend to do that with car talk. Have a good day!

One last offering to your leaky delima is to put a .020-.030 shim between the pinion bearing and flange. Ford uses them alot on their 9" set-ups. This will give your seal a new area of the flange to ride on so you can let everything find home on your 8.2" and not have to play with different seal settings.

I replaced the seal, used RTV on the splines and on the outer circumference of the new seal, greased the rubber part, and drove in about 1/16" shy of flush. No more leak! Thanks to all.

:thumbsup: