ring and pinion swap

[89k5350]

so im swapping used 4.10 ring and pinion gears from an 83 ten bolt to my front 87 tenbolt. I know how to pull the gears themselves but ive herd something about the pinion race being a bitch to beat out and other stuff about back lash . I just wanna know what im getting into before its too late. thanks

 

[nvrenuf]

You do know they used r&p will still need to be set up in your housing, right? If you put them in as is you might get lucky and they be close but it's highly unlikely they will be "right".

 

[89k5350]

what do you mean setup? like shimmed?

 

[nvrenuf]

Yes, they will need to be checked at install to see if they need to be shimmed differently.

 

[89k5350]

how exactly do you check them. by spinning the yoke or something?

 

[nvrenuf]

When you remove the gears from the donor, get ALL the shims. Install the "new" gear set in your housing with their original shims exactly as hey came out of the donor housing. At this point, it's going to be pretty much like setting up gears from scratch - marking compound to look at the pattern, dial indicator for backlash, in lbs torque wrench for the pinion.

 

[89k5350]

I do already have the gears and shims pulled from the donor axle and how do I set the back lash? it just depends how much I torque down the pinion nut?

 

[Stomis]

No disrespect here bud but the questions you're asking warrant a lot of reading time before you're ready to setup gears... You cant just throw gears in something and have it be fine. You've got backlash specs, which will require a dial indicator to read. Then you have pinion depth, which without the proper expensive tool will require the inner bearing be removed and put back on. Most people make a setup bearing with no press fit for this.

After all the numbers you still need to read the pattern and decide if you need to adjust the shims within the tolerance for back lash.


Its not exactly a learn it as you go kinda thing and is best to do with someone who knows how to do it the first few times.

 

[89k5350]

ok that's actually what I kinda wanted to hear so I know not to just tear into it

 

[72blazerguy]

Would have been easier to swap the axle in and change over your outers.

 

[89k5350]

that was my original plan but it is a lot cheaper for me to just change the gears because I already have them and the axle is a 8 lug ten bolt form a 83 3/4 ton so it would have needed all new brakes/lines steering

 

[4X4HIGH]

that was my original plan but it is a lot cheaper for me to just change the gears because I already have them and the axle is a 8 lug ten bolt form a 83 3/4 ton so it would have needed all new brakes/lines steering

If the donor axle is also a front axle then all you would need to do is swap the outers (spindles on out) from the current 8 lug to your 6 lug and wouldn't cost you a dime and would take ALOT less time than trying to do a gear set-up for your first time.