If you have ever built a 9" Ford third member, the hardest part is getting the crush sleeve crushed to allow the proper pre-load on the pinion bearings. You need a really hard hitting impact wrench with a really big compressor to get it done, and most of us don't have that luxury at home. This is my solution:
I built a simple fixture that would hold the pinion,bearings, crush sleeve, bearing retainer and yoke together as an assembly so that I could tighten the pinion nut and crush the sleeve for proper pre-load.
The fixture is a simple piece of heavy 3/8" thick angle iron that is drilled to allow the yoke to bolt to it, there is also a hole bored in it that will allow a socket to tighten the pinion nut. Mine is bolted to an "I" beam that I use to straighten out rearend housings. The "I" beam is bolted to the side of my old Bradford lathe. Whatever you bolt it to, it has to be very sturdy as it has to take some abuse.
A trip to a local swap meet turned up a heavy duty 1 1/16" 3/4" drive socket and a socket adapter. The heavy duty socket is needed as 1/2" drive sockets and breaker bars will usually shatter, ask me how I know. The socket adapter had a 7/8" hole in it. A trip to a boneyard turned up a 7/8" torsion bar which I cut to 36" in length. The torsion bar will be the lever that turns the socket, it is hardened, and it will not break or bend.
The whole pinion assembly is bolted to the fixture, and the pinion nut it tightened until the proper pre-load is acheived. I use my body weight to slowly push the torsion bar and the sleeve is crushed with ease. The 36" length easily allows the sleeve to crush. No more broken sockets, breaker bars or bench mounted vices!!
