what is this notch for on the drive shaft connection pinion side

[merrill]

replaced the pinion seal on the axle today,  after i got everything cleaned up i noticed the cut out on the item in the photo.

any ideas what this is for?

i thought it may be a place where the drive shaft locks into but when i crawled under the car and looked at the drive shaft i did not find anything on the drive shaft.

[ja17]

This slot is where the circular sheet metal lock plate is deformed to lock it in place. Next the circular lock plate is deformed into the slot in the slotted washer. The locking process of the slotted nut is now complete.

[merrill]

hi Joe
you confirmed my suspicion that my car did not have a metal lock plate.

question now is do i order one and put one in?

the next question is how do i confirm that i have tightened the pinion nut correctly? 

the process i used to remove the pinion nut was to lock the drum brakes with the wheel lugs installed,  this held the pinion nut from turning.
after marking the pinion nut, flange and pinion and my socket i removed the nut exactly 9 1/2 turns.    re installed the reverse.

if i put a lock plate in how do i account for that thickness when re tightening the pinion nut? 

would it be better to remove the nut and just use some locktite blue?

[ja17]

I think I would install the lock nut. It is critical that the slotted nut does not come loose.

[merrill]

Joe
hi
thanks for the reply

i may need your guidance to make sure I have re tightened the pinion nut correctly.

[merrill]

hi Joe
i found this lock ring on the sls web site.

does this simply slide over the pinion nut and then get peend into the pinion nut and the flange cut out?

[merrill]

hi
looks like the lock ring inserts around the pinion nut and then gets peened....  photo from bbb

[ja17]

Looks like a local dealer part. Get one locally and save on shipping!

[merrill]

hi Joe
so i purchased a pinion nut lock ring,  it sure does not fit over the pinion nut and what ever is around it.

the nut on my car looks like the one in the photo below, it has some sort of covering,  is the covering the lock?

just a little confused

thanks
matt

[ja17]

Yes the covering is the lock. Notice in the photo, it is "staked" on the side. After installation, it should be "staked" on the flange also.

[merrill]

thanks Joe,

makes sense now,    you confirmed my suspicion