Dana 44 Ring gear excessive runout

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billyp

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Colorado
First time regearing an axle. Watched a lot of videos, read books etc but have a few questions and a problem.

This is a stock Dana 44 out of a 2006 LJ. The carrier shims were on the outside of the carrier bearing races. The driver side (carrier side) was .143” and the passenger side (ring gear side) was .121”.

I am putting an Eaton electric locker and bought new gears from Yukon (4.56). Torqued the ring gear bolts to 55ft-lbs. Triple checked them.

With the original shims, I had 0 backlash. The Yukon kit only came with shims to go between the carrier and bearing. What I ended up with is the original shim on the passenger side, and ~.100” (have to measure exactly) between the driver side bearing and carrier.

That got the backlash within spec — depending on where on the ring gear I’m measuring. I’m seeing anywhere from .007” to .003” backlash.

Questions:

1. Is this the proper way to shim things? I ask because the bearing race on the driver side sticks out past the bearing cap now. I did try keeping both factory shims and adding a few shims on the passenger side, but that seemed way too tight.

IMG_2575.jpeg


2. I’m using setup bearings on the carrier and I don’t have enough extra shims to add preload to the carrier. It slides in and out fairly easily. I do have to tap in the passenger side shim. Could this be the cause of the excessive runout I’m seeing?

Thanks for the help. Things seemed like they were progressing well until this hiccup.
 
billyp said:
Shim kit to shim between bearing race and case? Wondered about the setup bearings, they can cause that much variation?
Click to expand...

The E locker calls for shims outside the bearing. Get a shim kit that will allow that. Yukon has gone way downhill in quality, you can ask gear experts. Using setup bearing can be frustrating, even if they are the exact same brand and brand new. However, being the same and new gives you the best chance at success.
 
hosejockey61 said:
The E locker calls for shims outside the bearing. Get a shim kit that will allow that. Yukon has gone way downhill in quality, you can ask gear experts. Using setup bearing can be frustrating, even if they are the exact same brand and brand new. However, being the same and new gives you the best chance at success.
Click to expand...

This. And since the housing was already running outside shims it is better to stick with them,
 
Thanks all. I ordered the outside shim packs. I’ll also ditch the setup bearings since I won’t be shimming between the bearings and carrier.
 
Got the new shim packs today and removed the setup bearings. Think we figured out why we were having so much runout. The anti-rotation tabs on the elocker were hitting the case preventing the passenger side from seating 100%. With that addressed I’m now getting .006” on 3 readings And .008” on one. Seems like that should be ok.

We ran a pattern — pinion depth is set where the factory one was. This looks correct to me but want some other opinions.

IMG_2581.jpeg


IMG_2582.jpeg
 
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billyp said:
Got the new shim packs today and removed the setup bearings. Think we figured out why we were having so much runout. The anti-rotation tabs on the elocker were hitting the case preventing the passenger side from seating 100%. With that addressed I’m now getting .006” on 3 readings And .008” on one. Seems like that should be ok.

We ran a pattern — pinion depth is set where the factory one was. This looks correct to me but want some other opinions.

View attachment 432250

View attachment 432254
Click to expand...

How exactly did you address the tabs hitting the case?
 
Bent them slightly back. The coil on the elocker now “floats”. Can spin it a little as well as driver to passenger side play.

Didn’t really want to grind the case out and didn’t want to grind on the anti-rotation tabs.

Hopefully just bending them a little is fine.
 
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