P15 pinion yoke/flange question

[3046moparcoupe]

The pinion yoke that came with our P15's rear diff will slide off and on the splined pinion shaft by hand. It does seem to be clocked however or maybe it's just a wear pattern - (by clocked I mean it will slide on when you rotate it and find the sweet spot alignment....this same pinion yoke was worn badly and I didn't much care for the narrow width speedi sleeve that's available for this yokes journal size, so we had it sleeved at a machine shop with a thicker sleeve they machined and pressed onto the yoke.  After it was brought to my attention that due to this machining, the integrity of the yoke may have been altered enough to make it unsafe, so I began my hunt for another yoke.

I purchased a yoke listed as NOS, and after receiving it I believe it to be a NOS part as it showed no signs of ever being installed, was covered in a thick cosmoline looking grease, and had a grease impregnated thick cardboard protective sleeve in place around the journal of the yoke. No rust anywhere EXCEPT for the journal area which had some light surface rust. ( due to the cardboard holding moisture over all the years I expect )...we polished off the rust to a clean surface (which resulted in removing 1.5 thousands of metal from the O.D. of the yoke journal).

This new pinion yoke also seems to have a sweet spot where it will slide on the pinion shaft the furthest when clocked/rotated to a specific position, however - even in this sweet spot - it stops just slightly over a 1/4" shy of going all the way inside the diff to rest up against the pinion bearing. So it slides on easily for about 3/4"- then I can get it to go a bit further on by using the palm of my hand and forearm like a hammer...at this point I've got plenty of threads exposed on the end of the pinion shaft to put the nut on and pull the yoke on in with the nut and washer.

Here's my question please for those of you experienced with these tapered axle diffs. 46 Plymouth P15,...IS THIS TIGHTENING UP ON THE PINION SHAFT FOR THE LAST 1/4-5/16 INCH CORRECT....OK.....PINCHIE WEANO'.....??

Folks I've talked with up to now, have told me that when they removed their pinion yoke - it slid off and on by hand,..like my original yoke does,..however my service manual does show a Miller tool C-452 being used to remove the drive pinion flange, which makes me think that a yoke without any wear must have had a bit of an interference fit...

Trying to find out if this is OK, before I end up in a tight spot that could have been avoided.

Thank you again forum members.

Steve

[Dodgeb4ya]

`The original factory installed  yokes are best to be marked with a prick punch before removing to put it back on the way it was.

But even then they sometimes have to be carefully tapped or pulled back onto the pinion shaft as they don't always easily slip back on.

I do use pullers all the time including the C-452 puller to remove the trans and pinion yokes.

It should be fine tapping it on as long as you are not having to HAMMER it back on!

Edited February 18, 2017 by Dodgeb4ya

[dpollo]

Now that is a bit of an enigma.    To the best of my knowledge yokes will slide in until they contact the outer bearing.

However, I have seen a transmission sliding yoke twisted so the splines were helical.    Very unlikely that the splines of your differential input shaft could have  been twisted this way.  If you have a spare differential perhaps you could test the new yoke on another shaft. I will be interested in what you finally conclude.

[3046moparcoupe]

Thanks for the  time taken to reply back....I should be shorter in verbage with my questions,....more to the point, should the fit here at the pinion yoke have some interference fit / or not ? 

I chatted with a fella here on the forum yesterday whom I have spoken with before and he stated that typically he had to use a puller to remove the pinion yoke, that in combination with the manual also showing the Miller c452 tool being used...must mean that initially these parts were designed to fit a partial interference fit.

So I would expect that both of the old pinion yokes, I had in hand, were not only worn badly at the journal to seal area, but also at the spline connection - resulting in a person being able to just slide them on and off by hand.

So I'll be honest here, I like the idea of being able to slide the part off and on by hand, if it be possible that I'd get by fine  - due to low horse power combined with very easy driving habits.......but.......I'm assuming on that,....so common sense would lead me towards having this yoke to spline joint having some interference fit if possible ( would the loser yoke sit there and ever so slightly move causing an increase in overall wear ?? obviously I don't know ),.... but since this new yoke seems to be offering up the this tighter interference fit.... yesterday I started my search for a Miller C-452 tool (to have one in hand should this yoke not seem to fully press on the shaft for some reason  " I can see me there stuck with it not fully on and trying to rig up a puller setup to get the thing back off " anyway - I got lucky and found one that's on it's way in the mail - so we'll see.

DB4ya, thanks for the reply back and the pics,...this may not be something you'd remember, but I'd like to try asking ya. Like said - this yoke I'm gonna press back on....will slide on a good 3/4's of the way just by hand, so the interference fit part of it is about the last final 1/4 ", so I'd think that if I was pulling it off with my trusty Miller c452 tool, I'd also experience about a 1/4" of removal movement before it broke lose..?  ( Sorry, but just trying to be really careful with these precious old parts ) ....does this sound close to right in respect to when you've pulled a pinion yoke in the past ?  I do not think anything is bent or twisted here, but your past experience recollect would sure help if possible,

Dpollo, thanks - well It sounds like you've experienced (just like myself on the 2 yokes I removed) that they just easily slid right off the pinion shaft. If you have experienced that on a working part and have not had issues, that would be great to know as well. I can't feel any slop in the yoke I have that will just slide right off or on, but obviously it's a looser fit..than the NOS one.

thanks for everyone's help.

Steve

Edited February 19, 2017 by 3046moparcoupe

[3046moparcoupe]

DB4ya, I forgot to say - I do believe you got the best profile pic I've seen here on the forum. That's a classic for sure !!

S.

[Dodgeb4ya]

45 minutes ago, 3046moparcoupe said:

DB4ya, I forgot to say - I do believe you got the best profile pic I've seen here on the forum. That's a classic for sure !!

S.

Yep...

I had a Dalmation that loved to ride around in my 4 tonner and that picture was a typical mug shot of him!

I decided to get a Dalmation for my T&C woodie as I saw a 1946 Chrysler sales brochure that showed a Dalmation sitting in the back seat of one...so he ended up riding around in  my cars and trucks and was quite the show dog!

His name of course was "Woodie" !!