This is my first time posting over here but have really enjoyed reading a lot of your articles. I'm in the middle of doing an engine transplant on my 86 el camino and while it was down I decided to buy a new ford 9" rear kit from Quick performance. I've got everything together and it looks great but I'm running into a problem with the interaction of the axle retainer bracket, sealed axle bearing and Housing plate at the end of the housing. I was told by quick performance that the bearing should protrude 1/8" beyond the housing and that is normal. Also that I should just go to my local hardware store and buy 1/8" washers to shim it out and the reason for it I'm going with disc brakes and the ford 9" was originally designed to work with a drum and what is missing is the thickness of the original bracket that holds the drums on. Looking at many aftermarket brake kits they all appear to supply you with this shim, but none of them are willing to sell me one I've asked. What have you done in this situation? Have any of you had this problem before? I found out that you can order different thickness washers from grainger so I have that option if all else fails. But that being said how thick should they actually be to make them fit properly or should I use a feeler gauge after snugging the bolts down to find a good side then go up a 2 or 3 thousandths if I can get them that fine. Here is a pic of what I'm looking at for a gap if that helps. Thank you for all of your help in advance.
Jerry
Jerry
