1986 Samurai.
I checked my rear pinion nut this weekend and found the nut loose.
The bearings seem good and the seal is not leaking.
I'm thinking I need to take off the nut, remove the pinion flange and seal, replace the crush sleeve, and retorque the flange.    Does this sound correct?

Without pulling the axles to set pinion preload, does anyone have a torque figure for a the pinion flange nut while the pinion is held with a bar?

Something I'm missing?

I think the pinion nut is supposed to have a fold over lock washer to keep things tight.
You might also try some lock-tight to keep things snug.

I don't think you need to replace the crush sleeve, they are a pain to get crushed too

Good luck
Wild

I've had this happen before a couple of times. What I've done (not saying this is correct) is take the driveline off, and gun down the pinion nut with the impact. Then I use a drift to lock the nut back into the machined groove on the pinion. This has worked well for me a few times. YMMV

Good Luck, Eric

X2 on what Eric said.

Amilla

Here's what I did...
using a drift, I took the stake out of the pinion nut and took it off with an impact wrench.
I pulled the yoke, seal, bearing, and crush sleeve.
I inspected the bearing and found it in good shape.
I Ordered new parts from Hawk for $35.00.
Here’s where it gets fun….
I measured the difference between the new and used crush sleeve, it was .050.
I measured the pitch of the pinion shaft, it was 1.25.
I determined it would take 78% of one turn to crush the new sleeve to the size of the old sleeve
I greased the bearing lightly, installed the bearing, crush sleeve, seal, lightly greased yoke, and used a new pinion nut suing anti-seizing compound.
I used a 3’ piece of angle iron bolted to the pinion yoke to hold it steady and used my ¾ drive ratchet and a 1 1/16 socket to turn the nut.
Using an inch-pound torque wrench, I checked the pinion bearing preload at roughly 75% of one turn and got about 4 inch pounds. I tightened the nut further until I got 8 inch pounds, which should be about right for used bearings. This gave me about 95% of one turn total.
I then staked the new nut, and refilled the fluid.
The pinion tightness and backlash feel great.