After simultaneously cooling the pinion shaft in the freezer and heating
the pinion shaft bearing in the oven, and still being unable to drive
the bearing onto the shaft, I finally resorted to taking the pinion to a
machine shop to have the bearing cones pressed on. They say they charge
$20-$30 per bearing, but I managed to talk them into pressing the pinion
bearing cone and the two bearing cones onto the differential housing for
$40. Still, that seemed like too much.
I've been through three iterations of installing shims, installing the
differential, and trying to read the contact pattern on the ring gear,
and I'm at a loss.
I first installed the original shim. I used something that looked like
white grease that was sold me as "Gear Contact Pattern Indicator", to
check the contact pattern.
The pattern was consistent on all the ring gear teeth, and nearly the
same on the drive side as the coast side. The Indicator was cleanly
wiped off of most of the tooth, but at the end near the outer diameter
of the ring gear, some grease remained, although it had been clearly
disturbed by contact or near-contact with the pinion.
I put in a shim that was .003" thinner to move the pinion back in the
housing, and presumably closer to the outside diameter of the ring gear.
There was no noticeable difference.
So, I put in a shim that was .007" thinner than the original. The
difference was the opposite of what I expected. The cleanly wiped part
of the ring gear tooth is now a very small spot near the inner diameter
of the ring gear. However, the area of Indicator compound that is
pulled up by contact or near-contact is still large, and covers most of
the tooth.
The original shim is now broken. The only shims I have are shims
thinner than the original by .003, .005, or .007".
Should I ignore the cleanly wiped part of the gear, and concentrate on
the pattern of contact or near-contact where the indicator compound is
changed but not cleanly wiped off? How should I proceed?
Thanks in advance, for your suggestions. I'll send a full report to the
group with everything I've learned about this kind of work when it's
finished.
Lee
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