Axle rebuild help

[mooecow]

I'm working on rebuilding my front axle and I've gotten myself all turned around. I pulled the ring and pinion and found terrible pitting so I bought a NOS set from ebay along with a NOS carrier. I set the carrier bearing preload and installed the carrier to check the runout and I'm getting .002, so within spec.

The problem comes in when I try to get a good pattern. I ended up using the below specs to get this ( http://imgur.com/F7jDArG ) pattern. This is my first axle rebuild so I've been using online guides and I can't find any reference pictures that show this type of pattern. To me it looks like it has too sharp of a line on it. This is with a backlash of .007".

Pinion : .060"
Long side of carrier: No shims
short side of carrier: .086"

The carrier does require more shims than the original, when I tried the original shim packs it slid right in so I added enough to give me .010" preload. The pinion also appears different than my original (which is F marked so I assume its original to the vehicle). The new pinion doesn't have this stepped area that the original on the right has. I'm assuming this is by design and that I wouldn't need to shim anything extra. http://imgur.com/glMlej3

Any advice would be welcome. The lack of shims on one side just does not seem right to me and I really don't know where to go from here. Thanks!!

[artificer]

First you must always get the pinion depth correctly set before doing anything else.
Then you adjust the crown wheel position properly & you will find the backlash & pattern are near correct:
https://www.ringpinion.com/Content/Book ... tterns.pdf

[Armyspecial]

Hello Mooecow,

As Artificer said, get your Pinion depth correct before being too concerned about the backlash.

Start with no shims under the inner bearing cone and go from there, adding one shim at a time and noting the change in pattern.

It's a very long, time consuming job and expect to pull the carrier many many times before it's right!!

Also, I suggest using quality bearings (assuming your changing them which you should).

Richard

[Armyspecial]

Also, it may help if you buy 2 inner bearings and hone the outside of the bearing cone on one of them so it's a snug fit inside the axle house (set up bearing). I've had mixed success with this as sometimes you get a good pattern and then it's thrown out when you install the new bearing. It's a good place to start though and make sure you have plenty of shims as you will damage them knocking the cone in and out each time.

[mooecow]

Thank you for the advice, I'll start over with the pinion and get that right before I move on. One of the tips I did see on here was about the setup bearings so I am using some. I think I would be insane by now if I had to keep pressing off bearings!

Does anyone still make / sell the pinion depth measuring tools? It seems like that would be a great way to get things started.