Moved over from general.

The metal shield on my dana 36 pinion yoke has came loose,and I just noticed it's out of round(has a flat area about 1" long).Can I just remove it,as I believe its possibly starting to rub on the drive shaft.(I have a lightly audible rubbing sound from the rear when I deacellerate.(no noise maintaining constant speed or accellerating.Any suggestions how I can remove it without removing the yoke and upsetting preload as Im not sure how its actually secured(press fit?).

Are you talking about a tin dust shield? A slinger or flinger? Yes you can remove it. Since it is just sheet metal, tin snips or a hack saw should work. The pinion bearings on most Dana diffs including the D36 and D44 used in C4s are not preloaded by the pinion nut tension or a variable thickness spacer (crush sleeve). The bearing preload is established at set up time with shims. There is no harm in removing the pinion yoke and reinstalling it, as long as you torque the pinion nut properly to specs. The slinger is to protect the pinion seal from being destroyed by road debris. It wouldn't be a bad idea to replace the slinger if you remove the yoke.

RACE ON!!!

PS. The slinger is a press fit. You should be able to tap the old slinger off of the shoulder of the yoke and the new one, if you replace it, on.