Comments on gear pattern?

[Don-T]

I am setting up a new ring and pinion in my '73 K10. This is the Dana 44 in the front. The original gears were 3.08, the new gears are 4.11. I think the pattern looks OK but I could use some comments from people with more experience. The backlash is at 0.010". I still need to set the pinion preload, hopefully that won't change the pattern. I do have preload on the pinion but the nut is not torqued to 200 yet.

 

[ali_c20]

Looks good to me. Are you using a crush sleeve or solid spacer with shims?

 

[Don-T]

The one uses shims to set the preload.

 

[ali_c20]

Setting the preload and torqueing down the nut does not change pinion depth. Getting the right preload is fun with shims, can be time consuming .

 

[Don-T]

I didn't think setting the preload would change the depth,, thanks for confirming. I have the housing sitting on a couple of saw horses so torqueing the nut to set preload may be a challange. Anyway, thanks for the advice, I am going to continue working on it.

 

[PrairieDrifter]

It needs to be more centered on the teeth in my opinion. So more pinion depth, doesn't need a whole lot. Also get a beam style torque wrench, the torque spec is just a general guideline. You need to measure rotational force of just the pinion to set preload.

 

[Don-T]

It needs to be more centered on the teeth in my opinion. So more pinion depth, doesn't need a whole lot. Also get a beam style torque wrench, the torque spec is just a general guideline. You need to measure rotational force of just the pinion to set preload.

By centered on the teeth do you mean heel to toe (end to end) or face to flank (top to bottom). Terms used in the Yukon book that came with the ring and pinion, or master install kit, I don't remember which.

I do have a bean type torque wrench as well as clicker torque wrenches. The rotatin torque on the pinoin after I added shims is about 20 inch pounds with the pinion nut torqued to 250 ft. lbs. This is without the pinoin seal installed. My Yukon book says it should be 14 - 19 inches and the factory manual says it sould be 20 - 40 inches with new bearings. The Yukon book says the torque on the pinion nut would be 200 to 400 depending on the size. The shop manual says it sould be 250 ft. lbs.

 

[PrairieDrifter]

By centered on the teeth do you mean heel to toe (end to end) or face to flank (top to bottom). Terms used in the Yukon book that came with the ring and pinion, or master install kit, I don't remember which.

I do have a bean type torque wrench as well as clicker torque wrenches. The rotatin torque on the pinoin after I added shims is about 20 inch pounds with the pinion nut torqued to 250 ft. lbs. This is without the pinoin seal installed. My Yukon book says it should be 14 - 19 inches and the factory manual says it sould be 20 - 40 inches with new bearings. The Yukon book says the torque on the pinion nut would be 200 to 400 depending on the size. The shop manual says it sould be 250 ft. lbs.

End to end, I would like to see the teeth setting closer to the middle of the ring gear. One side does look better than the other, the 2nd pic. The shop manual may call for more initial, to counter the bearing getting broke in. 15-20 sounds about right.

 

[Blue Ox]

.010" backlash sounds a bit much. What is the spec?

 

[Buck69]

Kind of looks like your pattern is walking in the first photo. Did you check the run out of the ring gear?

 

[Don-T]

Kind of looks like your pattern is walking in the first photo. Did you check the run out of the ring gear?

Good point, I will check it this morning.

 

[bucket]

I think in general it looks ok (could be more centered like PrairieDrifter mentioned) but there seems to be a lot of marking compound that may be skewing the result.

 

[Don-T]

Thanks for all the comments.

I added 0.002" to the pinion shims. I have 20 inch lbs preload on the pinoin. The backlash is now 0.009", spec is 0.006" - 0.010" so I am ok there. I checked the runout on the ring gear, it is about 0.001". The manuall says up to 0.006" is ok. Below are a couple of pictures of the pattern as it stands now. I am going to give this a shot, hopefully it works.

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[PrairieDrifter]

That looks better!

 

[Don-T]

The front axle rebuild is completed and it works well. There are no noises coming from it and it feels good. Thanks fo the suggestions everyone.