Boy I tell you. I wear a helmet when I heat up a ring gear in case she catches me in action!
Nashville TJ's Build - Continued
- Thread starter NashvilleTJ
- Start date
Boy I tell you. I wear a helmet when I heat up a ring gear in case she catches me in action!
I saw recently on GrindHardPlumbing, he bought a used oven for $75 and put it in his garage to bake his wheels. That or finding a cheap toaster oven off Temu would be better insurance than risking your life for our hobby. 
I saw recently on GrindHardPlumbing, he bought a used oven for $75 and put it in his garage to bake his wheels. That or finding a cheap toaster oven off Temu would be better insurance than risking your life for our hobby.
No risk, no reward is my moto.......
had some time to read through your build, really impressive! new gears look nice. i'm betting that is your issue. good luck!
A trick I figured out a long time ago... I've got a few 1/4" steel plates and a few pieces of scrap 3/4" hardwood plywood. I make a "carrier sandwich" inside my 20T press and it lets me torque the ring gear bolts down easily (though I never do it with the carrier bearings in place).
Well, nothing is ever easy when you've gone full custom...
Loaded up the new Crowne Ring Gear and gave it a spin. The new ring gear was milled to 10.10 - which should be in spec according to Ballistic. But sure enough, it contacted the housing just a bit. Here you can see the witness mark right at the ridge on the second chamfer from the left.
Barely touching, but touching it is. The Yukon ring gear measured at 9.970. I guess that 40 thou made a difference.
The rings are milled to a different profile - you can see the difference in this shot:
Easy fix, though. I spent a few minutes with the flap wheel to round over that little ridge. Now, it clears fine (well, by shaved 14 bolt standards, anyway...
).
Loaded up the new Crowne Ring Gear and gave it a spin. The new ring gear was milled to 10.10 - which should be in spec according to Ballistic. But sure enough, it contacted the housing just a bit. Here you can see the witness mark right at the ridge on the second chamfer from the left.
Barely touching, but touching it is. The Yukon ring gear measured at 9.970. I guess that 40 thou made a difference.
The rings are milled to a different profile - you can see the difference in this shot:
Easy fix, though. I spent a few minutes with the flap wheel to round over that little ridge. Now, it clears fine (well, by shaved 14 bolt standards, anyway...
).
I've talked about this before, but for anyone interested this is how I do my gear setup. As I've said, on the 14 bolt the carrier stays in place and the pinion depth is controlled by shims between the pinion carrier housing and the diff housing. It's a tight press fit, and requires a puller to remove. While doing the setup I keep the puller base bolted to the pinion yoke, along with the tool to rotate the pinion. The T-handle unscrews to remove it in order to rotate the pinion down to access the gear set.
To keep adequate pressure on the carrier to get a good pattern, I run a strap around the carrier housing and tension it with a pry bar and a clamp. It works very well and puts plenty of preload on the diff housing. Turning it 30 times to get a pattern definitely takes some effort...
To keep adequate pressure on the carrier to get a good pattern, I run a strap around the carrier housing and tension it with a pry bar and a clamp. It works very well and puts plenty of preload on the diff housing. Turning it 30 times to get a pattern definitely takes some effort...
And here we go. The previous setup ran a 15 thou shim stack on the pinion housing, and the backlash was 5 thou. To give myself a wide bracket I started with 0 shims, and 6.5 thou for backlash:
I think it's just a little deep - which is good news as I can't go any deeper without adding shims to the actual pinion gear. But as always, I'm looking for some feedback.
To finish the bracket, next I went to a 16 thou shim stack on the pinion, which gave me 5 thou on the backlash.
This looks shallow, so if Mike ( @hosejockey61 ) can confirm that I'm too deep at 0 and too shallow here, I think I've bracketed the setup.
I think it's just a little deep - which is good news as I can't go any deeper without adding shims to the actual pinion gear. But as always, I'm looking for some feedback.
To finish the bracket, next I went to a 16 thou shim stack on the pinion, which gave me 5 thou on the backlash.
This looks shallow, so if Mike ( @hosejockey61 ) can confirm that I'm too deep at 0 and too shallow here, I think I've bracketed the setup.
10 and 5. Getting closer.
Ben from Crowne told me that he generally wants to stay io the deeper side with a tighter backlash on his racing applications. So I think I'll creep a bit deeper until I get to what looks too deep.
One thing I'll say is that the pattern seems to be much more readable and predictable compared to the three previous Yukon gear setups I've done.
Mike - remember that damned 2-Cut vs. 5-Cut mess when I did my old '60?
Ben from Crowne told me that he generally wants to stay io the deeper side with a tighter backlash on his racing applications. So I think I'll creep a bit deeper until I get to what looks too deep.
One thing I'll say is that the pattern seems to be much more readable and predictable compared to the three previous Yukon gear setups I've done.
Mike - remember that damned 2-Cut vs. 5-Cut mess when I did my old '60?
So Jeff when I get ready to regear my Dana 44 F&R will you give me a crash course?????? 
So Jeff when I get ready to regear my Dana 44 F&R will you give me a crash course??????
Well Johnner, I've now had two failed installs - you sure you want my advice???
Well Johnner, I've now had two failed installs - you sure you want my advice???
I trust you more than I trust me.......
OK - help me with a quandary. My smallest pinion housing shim is 10 thou. Every 14-bolt shim kit I see for sale starts at 10 thou. That means I can't go deeper without pulling and breaking down the pinion housing, pulling the outer pinion bearing, and adding a shim. I do have shim that I think will work, and can be pressed on with the bearing, but the smallest I have there is 50 thou. That would them mean going with 40-50 thou of pinion housing shims to be able to go a few thou deeper than I am now. Or, looking to find a thinner shim that would work on the pinion gear.
So, how does the setup at 10 thou and 5 backlash look? Is it worth running, or should I consider the "shim the pinion gear" route to get a little deeper?
So, how does the setup at 10 thou and 5 backlash look? Is it worth running, or should I consider the "shim the pinion gear" route to get a little deeper?
Your 10 and 5 pattern looks good to me - it's centered nicely heel to toe, and isn't at all close to being "shallow", though I do what Crowne does an tend to go for a deeper pattern (esp on something like a 14B where you know your pinion is staying damn solid). That said, I would have little worry running the pattern you got, especially considering the alternative.
Interestingly enough, I ran into the same issue on my 14B regear, where 10-thou was all I had for "thin" pinion shims as well (my Motive kit came with .010", .011", .013", .015", .017" & .019"). This seems to be common and is why many 14B regear people will often automatically throw a shim under the pinion gear to give them a tad more flexibility (most throw on a 10-20 thou shim though, not 50). I wouldn't spend the time to fiddle with a 50-thou shim, since you're probably only 1-2 thou off "perfect" to begin with. I'd find something that would let you run 1-2 pinion shims that you already have
Interestingly enough, I ran into the same issue on my 14B regear, where 10-thou was all I had for "thin" pinion shims as well (my Motive kit came with .010", .011", .013", .015", .017" & .019"). This seems to be common and is why many 14B regear people will often automatically throw a shim under the pinion gear to give them a tad more flexibility (most throw on a 10-20 thou shim though, not 50). I wouldn't spend the time to fiddle with a 50-thou shim, since you're probably only 1-2 thou off "perfect" to begin with. I'd find something that would let you run 1-2 pinion shims that you already have
Thanks PC. I know 14 bolt shims are available less than .010, as I've found factory part numbers for shims from .006 to .009, but have not been able to locate any. You are correct, all the install shim "kits" I've come across, Yukon, etc., are all .010 to .019.
I'm also looking for some shims that would work for the pinion gear. They would be 1.750" ID and something like 2.500" OD. I certainly agree that 50 is too much - that's just what I had lying around.
Thanks for the feedback. I've also reached out to Ben Brazda over at Crowne Racing / Filthy Motorsports to get his input. He also needs to validate my install for his warranty.
Regarding the initial bracket, yes that was good to find the goal posts
Yes I do! My next question was going to be exactly that. I can't remember if you mentioned it yet.
I'm thinking it's still just slightly shallow. I'm curious to hear what Been has to say. I think you are close there....maybe within 2-3.