84redta

iTrader: (34)

This is the first rear I've done, read more books and looked at more pictures than I can remember, and I've heard and read all the step by steps of other people in thier rear assembly, but I just want to do this right the first time. I set up the rear so far to the best of my abilities, checking some things and pattern being one of them, here is the pattern I'm running, and I think it's pretty spot on...I haven't set up ring back lash yet, or pinion preload, so it's not nearly done, but this is what i'm coming up with so far :

Drive side :



Coast Side :



and some zoomed out pics :
Drive : http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/k...7/IMAG0417.jpg
Coast : http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/k...7/IMAG0418.jpg

Let me know what you think. Like I said, I still need to get back lash and pinion pre-load set up, but before I tear it apart getting it ready to go back, wanted to make sure I'm going in the right direction with pinion depth and relative carrier shimming. Just looking for some quiet long life gears.

Thank you in advance.

Jonathan

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

Looks great ! Driver side is a tad high and coast is a bit low but I'd run that with no worries.

84redta

iTrader: (34)

That's what I was thinking, but my concern is that I did a new ring and pinion, new auburn LSD, new bearings and all, and used all the original shims for pinion and carrier and this is the result I got, just concerned this was a little too easy and I was missing something before I started pressing pinion bearings . Again I need to set it up for backlash, I think its rather tight, I haven't measured it yet, but from what results I am getting I wanted to make sure I was interpreting the pinion depth correctly.

As far as changing that high/low situation, would a hair larger pinion shim center things more?

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

I would have to look it up about the pinion shims ( I've done 300ish rearends) and the 9" and 10 bolts move different with the P shims.
I have honed out pinion "setup" bearings that I use so I can change pinion shims with ease.
Make sure your backlash is correct. What do yo do with the car? street? drag? road race?

84redta

iTrader: (34)

street, some agressiveness, but mainly street. and yes, I honed out some bearings too to make this process easier, didn't wanna waste bearings at $40 a pair.

84redta

iTrader: (34)

Alright, finally got the chance to tinker with this setup, and here is my results. I tried to go a smidge more on the pinion shim, and it went all out of wack (low flank on drive/coast). Went a hair smaller on the pinion shim than the results above, and with the same shims holding the carrier left to right, and this is my results :

Drive :

Coast :

This is with the axle slid in, so it's loaded markings. I need to send the carrier a smidge to the right, as i'm about .01 off the top spec of backlash, but let me know if this is what I'm supposed to be looking for in a pattern, and I can go ahead and start pulling it all apart (after getting proper backlash obviously) to start pressing the pinion bearings and set up pre-load there.

84redta

iTrader: (34)

Any opinions from the evening crowd?

redneckjoe

JMO. i get lucky 90 percent of the time re-useing the stock shims. im no expert, and its a lil hard to tell by a pic, but id run it. my only opinion from your last pics is that the pinion depth might look a little shallow? looks like a nice even wear pattern though.

84redta

iTrader: (34)

I thought it was a tiny bit shallow, but this seemed to be the best that I got it, plus I won't be beating on this vehicle at all, automatic so i wait till it's in gear, I take off smoothly, and possibly accelerate aggressively from there if I needed to, otherwise I won't be beating it, and with that much contact patch, kinda figured it should be a nice smooth and quiet setup.

84redta

iTrader: (34)

Okay, last stupid question and then I will be done with all the silly-ness.

Pressed new bearings...put everything together, all is going well, my girl friend gets very impatient with the hooking up all the tools to tighten, tighten it a smidge and then take it all apart to check torque, so tells me to give it an extra little nudge before we tore down to check torque...well long story short...i shot right by factory specs on new bearings.

So pull it all apart, inspect both pinion bearings, they all seem to be good, so I go ahead and lube up the bearings, put on a new crush sleeve (using crush because that's all my parts guys could get me, they all looked at me dumbfoundedly when I asked for a solid spacer) Anyways, there was two different crush sleeves that I got from the company that supplied my axle upgrade, one was a black metal, and the other was a steely (natural) color. Either I got a whole lot stronger the 2nd time around, or the black crush color was much stronger, because crushing the second (natural) crush sleeve was a breeze with my breaker, but anyways, my concern is I put it back up to new bearing specs, and I wanted to make sure that since I went over on the first test-fit, that it didn't make the bearings "used."

Probably a stupid question I know, but it's deff worse not to ask in my mind. Anyways, I have this preloaded to 25-27.5 in-lbs with new bearings and the seal installed, and with tapping both ends of the pinion to seat the bearings. Everything I read is 25-30, but the owners manual describes going 5 more in-lbs to accommodate the seal being there (under assumptions that the specs given in the 25-30 range were w/out a seal). Any of the experienced on this board think I should push for 30-35 to accommodate the seal or what?

Everyone's time and help with this is much appreciated, getting a lot more comfortable with this process, as tedious as it can be.