Alright so a little background on where I'm at, I discovered I had 3.08 gears and already had the front axle out of the truck because I had just painted it. I decided to go ahead and re-gear the front with 4.11 gears before I moved to the rear to paint and regear. I've never done it before but I got all the tools to do it including a T&D depth checker for the pinion depth. I bought a pair of motive gears and I've been going at it for about a week. I have one big issue at the moment.
My question is, is it normal to have a substantial amount of drag between the ring and pinion when it's a assembled and ready to run the check pattern? I have enough drag in some spots it's hard to turn the pinion yoke by hand. I currently have the bearing caps torque at only 25-ft lbs since I'm just in the testing stage. I've not tried torquing them all the way to spec. It does not matter how loose the pinion nut is so I don't think pinion bearing preload is it. Currently, not using a crush sleeve since I'm in the setup stage. I'm using setup bearings that match my bearing kit by the way too. When I removed the carrier to start this job it had a crazy amount of preload. I couldn't even get it out by sticking a rag in there and running it between the ring and pinion. I tried the wrench trick and the pry bar too. I had to pull it out with a 5lb slide hammer. It was a deal. I'm using the stock carrier shims still and driving them in with a shim driver. Each is .242in but I did mark them so I don't mix them up. I only painted one tooth on the drive and coast side so I could at least get an idea for what was going on. I didn't want to paint a bunch of teeth yet because I didn't think it was ready for that and they only gave me enough marking compound to do a little bit. I've blown more snot in a Kleenex than the marking compound I've got. I'm pretty sure I'll need to add at least 0.003in worth the shims or more to the pinion but it looks like I'm okay on the backlash side. Any guidance or direction at this point would help. I'm just amazed that it's so hard to spin the yoke in certain spots. I thought maybe I had installed the ring gear crooked so I removed it and reinstalled it when I had a helper to hold it still so I could torque every bolt evenly at 65 lb. I also lightly filed away the burs on the back of the ring gear and the carrier before installation. I can't imagine the ring gear isn't on there flush. I just wonder if during the break in the teeth will wear in and it won't be so stiff. I don't have anyone around here to bounce technical questions about regearing off of so anyone that really wants to get into this with me would be very helpful.
My question is, is it normal to have a substantial amount of drag between the ring and pinion when it's a assembled and ready to run the check pattern? I have enough drag in some spots it's hard to turn the pinion yoke by hand. I currently have the bearing caps torque at only 25-ft lbs since I'm just in the testing stage. I've not tried torquing them all the way to spec. It does not matter how loose the pinion nut is so I don't think pinion bearing preload is it. Currently, not using a crush sleeve since I'm in the setup stage. I'm using setup bearings that match my bearing kit by the way too. When I removed the carrier to start this job it had a crazy amount of preload. I couldn't even get it out by sticking a rag in there and running it between the ring and pinion. I tried the wrench trick and the pry bar too. I had to pull it out with a 5lb slide hammer. It was a deal. I'm using the stock carrier shims still and driving them in with a shim driver. Each is .242in but I did mark them so I don't mix them up. I only painted one tooth on the drive and coast side so I could at least get an idea for what was going on. I didn't want to paint a bunch of teeth yet because I didn't think it was ready for that and they only gave me enough marking compound to do a little bit. I've blown more snot in a Kleenex than the marking compound I've got. I'm pretty sure I'll need to add at least 0.003in worth the shims or more to the pinion but it looks like I'm okay on the backlash side. Any guidance or direction at this point would help. I'm just amazed that it's so hard to spin the yoke in certain spots. I thought maybe I had installed the ring gear crooked so I removed it and reinstalled it when I had a helper to hold it still so I could torque every bolt evenly at 65 lb. I also lightly filed away the burs on the back of the ring gear and the carrier before installation. I can't imagine the ring gear isn't on there flush. I just wonder if during the break in the teeth will wear in and it won't be so stiff. I don't have anyone around here to bounce technical questions about regearing off of so anyone that really wants to get into this with me would be very helpful.
