yea the crush sleeve can be a pain to get going.
at home I have used a big pipe wrench on the yoke and a breaker bar on the nut EACH with a section of pipe for more torque. housing and pipe wrench on the floor and lay into the breaker pipe to get the crush sleeve to compress.
be careful though, once it starts to snug up the pinion rotational torque spec comes up FAST. go a little at a time check and recheck. You dont want to go past the spec and have to start over with a new sleeve again.
The previous posts are right on too. That tool Bonnewagon posted can be found at summit or Jegs and it can be used to measure the pinion depth accurately. The one from summit comes with good instructions and the tool in relatively inexpensive.
a tip - for finding the right shim, use an old pinion bearing and grind out a little of the ID so you can slip fit it onto the pinion and try different shims quickly. Dont press on the new bearing until youve got the shim correct.
Get the pinion depth RIGHT. the backlash is easy to set and adjust but the pinion you only want to do once.
check the pattern on new gears once installed.
EDIT: Usually with aftermarket gearsets, the gearset should have the desired pinion depth scribed on the pinion head. the backlash should be scribed on the ring gear's side. These are the dimensions that your particular gearset was run-in at form the manufacturer.
If its not marked on the gearset then you need to use the "checking distance" method. Checking distance is 3.780" for the 7.5" 10 bolt. subtract from it the pinion head thickness measured from the shim land to the top of the head. This final number is your desired pinion depth for that gearset. Measure with the proper tool and shim as necessary to get the correct pinion depth.
at home I have used a big pipe wrench on the yoke and a breaker bar on the nut EACH with a section of pipe for more torque. housing and pipe wrench on the floor and lay into the breaker pipe to get the crush sleeve to compress.
be careful though, once it starts to snug up the pinion rotational torque spec comes up FAST. go a little at a time check and recheck. You dont want to go past the spec and have to start over with a new sleeve again.
The previous posts are right on too. That tool Bonnewagon posted can be found at summit or Jegs and it can be used to measure the pinion depth accurately. The one from summit comes with good instructions and the tool in relatively inexpensive.
a tip - for finding the right shim, use an old pinion bearing and grind out a little of the ID so you can slip fit it onto the pinion and try different shims quickly. Dont press on the new bearing until youve got the shim correct.
Get the pinion depth RIGHT. the backlash is easy to set and adjust but the pinion you only want to do once.
check the pattern on new gears once installed.
EDIT: Usually with aftermarket gearsets, the gearset should have the desired pinion depth scribed on the pinion head. the backlash should be scribed on the ring gear's side. These are the dimensions that your particular gearset was run-in at form the manufacturer.
If its not marked on the gearset then you need to use the "checking distance" method. Checking distance is 3.780" for the 7.5" 10 bolt. subtract from it the pinion head thickness measured from the shim land to the top of the head. This final number is your desired pinion depth for that gearset. Measure with the proper tool and shim as necessary to get the correct pinion depth.
