I'm setting up a rear for the first time, and I thought I'd get some advise from those who have much more experience than I do. The drive side looks pretty good, maybe a little high? But the coast side is way toward the toe. I got some general guide lines from drivetrain.com as far as contact patterns go, and it says the coast side may be a little more toward the toe than the drive side, but this looks pretty bad. I think that if I move the pinion a little deeper, it should help both these problems, but I'm getting pretty frustrated, and I want to know what ya'll think before I go tearing it apart AGAIN
here's the drive side

and the coast side

 

Yeah, the drive side looks pretty good. Could be a bit deeper, but not bad. Coast is a little funny, though, like you said. I assume you're working with no setup bearings or a case spreader? That's how I did mine and it was a PITA...only took 8 tries....A couple thou deeper on the pinion should get you pretty close...how's the preload on the carrier?

 

thanks for the reply. You ain't kiddin about a PITA. This is the 4th try I'll shoot for another .005 in the pinion. the carrier is pretty much as tight as I can make it without a spreader, thats what I've heard it should be. Takes a good bit of pounding to her her in there. Is that right?

 

With the pinion, you should be able to shuffle shims around and keep the same preload. Same with the carrier, once it's where you want it. Defnitely time consuming, to say the least. Truthfully, I shot from the hip on my carrier preload...once I got a good pattern with the pinion, I let if fly. I towed and flogged that axle (w/detroit locker) and had zero noise/issues. How hard does the carrier go in and out?

 

Yeah I've got the pinion preload set pretty good, so setting it deeper shouldn't be a problem. I've got to pound the carrier into place pretty hard. Its more that a tap, but I haven't had to break out the 10 lb sledge. You think thats too tight?

 

Nope. There's preolad on those bearings, too. That's why there's a case spreader available. I used a 6lb plastic mallet and it still put up a fight.

 

Heel to toe looks OK


To ME... its too far toward the top of the gear. Needs to go further to the root.

Try this link Link to Pirate4x4 shows how to set up gears specifically and has VERY good photo's of what acceptable pattern should look like.

 

take a few .00 from one side to the ring gear side to get the pattern a little deeper on the ring gear that should be great

 

thanks so much for all the help! I added .010 to the pinion depth to get a better pattern, but then my backlash was down to .002, so I moved the carrier away by .006. Now I've got .006 backlash and the contact pattern below.
Drive side- pretty much perfect

coast side- still a little toe heavy, but its gonna have to be close enough

Again thanks so much for the responses and Merry Christmas!!!