[TR] More Differential Questions

[John & Pat Donnelly]

To better see what I had in front of me I decided to put some oil in and
manually spin it. Well, the front (pinion) seal leaks like a sieve. The
output seals didn't leak any. So, since I had to buy an oil seal I thought I
may as well open the back to see if there was any internal issues. Good
thing I did because there wasn't any gasket!
Looking at the gears they look good. The "easy" play I found yesterday was
the backlash of the pinion and crown. In doing some quick measurements the
backlash was 6-10 thou. Not good, but not really enough to warrant pulling
it all apart.
The pinion had some brown discoloration on the teeth that looked like
surface rust but seemed to wipe off with a little rubbing. No pitting of any
sort.
So, tomorrow I order parts from one of the big three. 
> If you hold one output flange
> (perhaps
> by resting it on the ground) and provide some resistance to the other
> output
> flange, the input should still turn smoothly.

Everything turned very smooth. The teeth mesh pretty much on center.

> IF everything checks out OK, I'd probably still change the input seal;
> and
> maybe the output seals if you have access to a press to get them apart.

The manual says to pull the output shaft first, then separate the flange
from the shaft by removing the outer nut. I did that the shaft bearing came
out too. That seems bas-ackwards to me. Shouldn't you pull the flange nut
first, then the bearing retainer? Holding the shaft while trying to remove
the nut seems difficult.
How tight is the nut on? Can the nuts be re-used?

Lots of questions. Sorry.
Johnnie