Since this carrier is the wrong pinion offset all I have to do now is switch the pinion and races over to the new one.....




The 10 ton press is a cheap investment.....worth it's weight in gold.




I pressed the races into the new 3rd and used a soft chisel to make sure the races were in all the way. When the races are bottomed out, the chisel wants to jump out of your hand when smacked.

Ended up using .030" for the pinion pre-load shim......14 in/lbs.




Just put the case in and carefully aligned the bearing caps making sure to get the right mesh on the adjuster threads.




While maintaining about 8 thou backlash, the carrier bearing pre-load needed to be high. This will prevent ring gear deflections....at least due to 'relaxed' bearings.




Using .076" on the pinion results in this good drive side pattern. But it was still a tad deep.....taking 2 thou off will make it a winner.




Coast side




Out everything comes again....case...pinion....and now safely remove the bearing with a bearing separator.




Man, I couldn't believe how snug of a fit that bearing was on that pinion! With some negotiating, everything worked out.




I maintained the 8 thou BL and really snugged the bearings down.




I like to take a large screwdriver and wedge it in there to create good drag for excellent paints.




shim is now .074"...Nice.....this kind of pattern keeps both the ring gear teeth and pinion teeth in their strong region......neither tooth is too deep nor too shallow.....the contact patch is in the ideal center of BOTH sets of teeth(pitch line). Follow this link HERE for some interesting 'contact' info/good pics.




Coast side




Dry start-up on this seal?....I doubt it.




I used blue Loctite on the pinion nut and a cheater bar. I staked the nut......hehehe. OK Josh....give it the usual new gear break-in......don't drive it on the highway for a couple weeks....but it's ok to drive around town all you want. Stay under 60. Lotsa stops and starts are a good thing. Change the oil after a month or so.
.....And as far as being offroad and in the boulders......be as hard as you want....the 529 gears won't be the weak link.

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