14bff gear pattern

[Hogback Fabrication]

I don't want to turn this into a pissing match so take it for what it's worth.

Nobody wants it to turn to that, we're both trying to help Brian setup his gears

I've set up thousands of gear sets (I worked at Jeep during the aluminum 44 days)

I've only setup ~25 gearsets but nearly all of them have been different models. None of them have made noise and all seem to be holding up well.

The aluminum D44 is known for problems with distorted housings, maybe their gear patterns are a bit different?

I'm not doubting your experience, but Yukon (among others, every set of gear setup instructions that I've ever seen says the same) says that heel to toe contact is not an issue.

 

[bp71k5]

Ok, here's the deal. I used a razor blade to scrape of any potential grime I might have missed from the pinion housing and torqued all the bolts to spec. My bearing caps were only about 90 ft lbs. Once I torqued them to 135, the backlash dropped to .005"-.006" depending on where I measure.

Latest patterns. I might be convinced the drive side is a bit better but it may just be wishful thinking. The coast side seems about the same amount of imperceptable imrpovement.





I really do appreciate all the help here. The drive side looks pretty good so I think I'm going to run it as-is and deal with any potential noise rather than risk tearing it down and making something worse. This is definately a learning experience.

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

Ok, here's the deal. I used a razor blade to scrape of any potential grime I might have missed from the pinion housing and torqued all the bolts to spec. My bearing caps were only about 90 ft lbs. Once I torqued them to 135, the backlash dropped to .005"-.006" depending on where I measure.

Latest patterns. I might be convinced the drive side is a bit better but it may just be wishful thinking. The coast side seems about the same amount of imperceptable imrpovement.

View attachment 85142

View attachment 85143

I really do appreciate all the help here. The drive side looks pretty good so I think I'm going to run it as-is and deal with any potential noise rather than risk tearing it down and making something worse. This is definately a learning experience.

That pattern looks near perfect, put it together and call it good.

And, like I said, I've setup a couple dozen diffs and none of them have made any noise.

 

[bp71k5]

Even if it does make some noise, it'll be competing with 50 other things making a ton of it as well so I probably won't hear it.