Re: Pinion seal

[Simon Favre <simon@xxxxxxxxxx>]

You can undo just the flange at the diff, but you probably should support
the driveshaft on a block of wood, or something. You can do the pinion
seal yourself, if you can get or make the tool. Often, local Alfa clubs
have special tools like this for the borrowing.

If you're resourceful, you can make the special tools required. If you
have your own machine shop, you don't need to read this. ;=) If you're a
hacksaw and mill file machinist like me, you can make both tools. The
ring nut tool can be made by cutting metal away from the top of a castle
nut. I used one that was 1.5" across the flats. If you take a pencil
rubbing of the nut on the pinion flange, you'll see what to do with the
castle nut. The holding fixture can be made from a plain piece of bar
stock, or an angle iron. I used a bar about 2" wide and 24" long. Drill
two holes in the bar to match the flange bolt holes, then grind some metal
out of the bar to make room for the ring nut tool. The holding bar can be
allowed to come to a stop against the body while you loosen the ring nut.
I also shaved the bottom of the nut to fit a 36mm socket I already had.
An impact wrench (air, or rented electric) makes short work of it. I just
used a 3/4 inch drive ratchet (heavy artillery).

Bob Rand wrote:

>To the gentleman who asked if one could just remove the back section of the
>driveshaft without disturbing the donut connection at the transmission, did
>you get an answer?
>
>I also have a pinion leak.  Alfa makes special tools to loosen/remove the
>nut on the pinion so access to the seal is possible.  If you don't have
>those tools, I don't think you could do it.  Look in the service manual and
>you will see what I mean.  One tool holds the pinion in one place while the
>other tool is a socket and removes the nut.

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