Diff assembly question

[xylorex]

I've spent most of yesterday shimming my pinion and diff carrier... must have had it apart 12+ times.... everything is new except for the diff housing and the carrier bearing caps/bolts

an issue with the pinion surfaced on final assembly. the only thing that changed was now i have a crush sleeve and the new pinion bearing is now pressed on (i made a setup bearing with a same part # timken)

now when i rotate the pinion yoke there is a high drag spot, not terrible as i can still turn it with my hand.... pics of the gear mesh are attached, i think it looks about perfect (chime in if not). I rotated the pinion by hand for a while, so the gear marking compound is on all the teeth...

i am inclined to go ahead and run this thing with the wheels off the ground for a while to see if it works itself out. what do you guys think?

thanks

 

[Streetbu]

Pattern looks good to me. Give you a tech tip. Next time you have to set up gears, keep all the shims from the old setup and reuse them in the new setup in the same place. 95% chance you won't have to adjust it at all. You're shimming for the housing, not the gears or carrier.

 

[ssn696]

It's a little late now, but was there some chud on the diff or ring gear that might be holding that one spot high?

 

[xylorex]

i guess anything is a possibility at this point... i'm thinking it must be some trash in the new pinion bearing

 

[64nailhead]

Looks great - a bearing not being lubed on every roller will cause your bindy spot.

Run it!!!

 

[Bonnewagon]

The pinion gear/bearing needs a pre-load. Measured with an inch-pounds toque wrench, what is your's at? What is the spec for new gears? When you rotate the pinion does the torque read higher at the sticky spot?

 

[xylorex]

64nailhead --- thank you!

bonnewagon --- thanks for your response also. on the pinion bearing preload i went with the factory specs, which were different than what came with the gears (richmond). I had 12-13 inch pounds preload on the pinion bearings. factory spec calls for 12-15, the richmond gears said 25... while reading the richmond instructions i lost faith because its generic and covers several different rears.

2nd question - yes, it reads higher on the sticky spot. on that spot the highest i read was 50 inch pounds -- but not everytime. that is 50 inch pounds total preload (pinion & carrier, no axles), because i only felt this after i got everything fully assembled.