Gear "Tightness"

[Me89'Jimmy]

Gear \"Tightness\"

I put a set of 4.88 gears in my 10 bolts a few months ago, then the gov lock blew so i put another posi in it, however when i went to re install the gears the first time i put them in i could spin the gears, via the u joint bracket, by hand, so i thought i would go with that, however my father said that it was way to loose, so we did it again, and this time the only way i could turn it was with a massive pry bar, personally i thought all that did was rob me of power and sky rocket my rolling resistance. but we ended up leaving it like that anyway. Have I missed some major reason why they should be so tight and hard to turn or is my father just full of BS. Thanks in advance

 

[bablazer73]

Re: Gear \"Tightness\"

They SHOULDN'T be that tight. You have to set gears up carefully. Have you been checking your backlash??? should have .008-.012 backlash. There are shims on either side of the carrier that MUST be changed to adjust the backlash. Backlash is CRITICAL to proper gear wear. You MUST have a good gear contact pattern, or it will all be wasted in a short time.

 

[Me89'Jimmy]

Re: Gear \"Tightness\"

the backlash was .11 and the wear pattern was dead on, but for whatever reason it was still next to impossible to turn, im gonna tear it apart and put it back in to see if that will fix the problem

 

[BlueBlazer]

Re: Gear \"Tightness\"

You need to check pinion bearing preload.

 

[K5MONSTERCHEV]

Re: Gear \"Tightness\"

If you just changing the carrier, put it back together with thte shims in the same place they were when you took it apart. It should go backtogether fine. Unless you have the wronge carrier? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[BlueBlazer]

Re: Gear \"Tightness\"

What are you talking about, he said he swapped in 4.88 gears which says to me new ring and pinion, thus his pinion bearing preload is probably way too tight if as he says his backlash and pattern are good.

 

[Me89'Jimmy]

Re: Gear \"Tightness\"

this was a while back that i installed these guys, so my knowledge on the subject has faded if its the bearing pre load as you say would all i have to do is take the bearing ack of the pinion and then re press it or what? and if so will i need a new crush seal etc? /forums/images/graemlins/dunno.gif

 

[lukebaby1]

Re: Gear \"Tightness\"

You need to shim the pinion some more sounds like, either that or shim your carrier away from the pinion. Dont forget to check it with a dial indicator for trueness. Should feel snug and should have a little bit of end play from the yoke side once you have it tight. Should be able to turn it freely by hand with no binding. /forums/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif

 

[Me89'Jimmy]

Re: Gear \"Tightness\"

ok will do, this has happened to me before, when the factory gov lock went, and im not trying to run the truck anyfarther with the sounds comin out of it, thanks for the info gentlemen /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif

 

[bablazer73]

Re: Gear \"Tightness\"

Anytime you have to take the pinion apart, you NEED to change the crush collor. This is what actually sets the bearing preload. The shims adjust the pinion depth in the housing.

 

[Me89'Jimmy]

Re: Gear \"Tightness\"

ya i remember when we tightened down the crush collar we didnt have any specific tightness to go by so we just tightened it down with an impact gun, on retrospect thats probably the reason for all this trouble /forums/images/graemlins/doah.gif. anyone know what the specific tightness is i need to adhere to? /forums/images/graemlins/ears.gif

 

[BlueBlazer]

Re: Gear \"Tightness\"

You tighten it until you acheive the correct rolling torque on the pinion. Youll need a beam type in. lb. torque wrench to do this. Usually the spec is somewhere in the 5-25 in. lb. range, but you need to get the exact spec for your axle before you attempt this.