Pinion Depth

[Creager]

Is it absolutely necessary to find the original pinion depth for a re-gear?

I am under the impression that the number on my new pinion gear is the amount that I need to add or subtract to get to my new pinion depth? And if, by any chance, that depth is wrong ill be able to tell by the pattern (on the ring gear) and adjust accordingly.

As well as when I am adjusting, if I go from one extreme to the other, then I know my correct pattern is somewhere with in those extremes.

I know that would be very time consuming way of going about it (as far as removing the carrier and the pinion 5 or 6 times to get it right) but it seems the analytical way would be easier for me...

Is that a good way to find the right pinion depth?

 

[Eneurb]

You will be able to tell by the pattern if your pinion depth is correct or not, but if it's not correct, it's alot of work to adjust. When the pinion gears are machined, there is normally a number written on the gear, i.e. 0, +/-1, +/-2 and so on. If your original gear, and your new gear have the same number, reuse the original shim. If your original is 0, and your replacement is +1, use a shim that is 0.001" thinner. I know that it doesn't sound like a big difference, and in most cases if you've only got a difference of +/- 1, you can get away with reusing the shim. There are also tools for determining the pinion depth, but they are not easy to get, or easy to use.

 

[Creager]

Ok

i am at work right now so i dont know the exact numbers


i pulled the bearing off the stock pinion, and im about to grind it out so i can use it for my set up

The shim on it (i havent measured it yet) looked like it was about .030

My new pinion gear has 2.657 written on it. So that means, if i compare it to my the number on my old pinion, i should have to add .002657 or basically .002 to my original shim? or subtract .002?

 

[Eneurb]

I've never seen a number such as that to indicate the machined size... but I've only ever dealt with OEM parts. Are there no other numbers written on it??

 

[Creager]

Yes, the other number is "267" which is also written on the ring gear