Almost got it done!
So got the Dana 30 all done today! So here is what I did to set-up my axle, though I am no expert but have done lots of research and had help from other whom have done this before.
I'm running an E-Locker from Eaton so there are some differences in some things during the install but nothing major.
When I got my install kit I took the time to pull out all of the shims and mic them and right on the shim with a sharpie, what the shim thickness is. In my case the carrier shims were no good to me for they would not fit over the shoulder of the locker. So..I had to use Dana 44, GM 7.5/8.5 or Ford 7.5 shims instead. Was able to use the pinion pre-load and pinion depth shims though.
First I put my ring gear on my wood stove and the locker(carrier) in the freezer so I could install the ring gear easily. Adding heat will expand the ring gear and cooling the locker will shrink it; science is wonderful
. After a few minutes of heat and freezing I dropped the ring gear over the locker and it fell right on. Put my bolts on and torqued them down with red loc-tite provided.
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Before I could install the ring gear I had to remove the stator on top, which engages the locker to"lock". It was easy, just pull off the double wrapped snap-ring and it comes right off.
After the ring gear I made a set of setup bearings. Simply bought a duplicate set of carrier bearings and ground them down so they slide on and off the carrier easily, saves from pressing them on and off the carrier.
Also made a setup bearing for the outer pinion bearing by doing the same thing as the carrier bearings. Need to take the inner race that holds the pinion depth shims and grind the outside down so it can be easily be popped in and out of the housing.
Now before I began to put things together I had to drill a hole in the upper left corner of the axle housing for my wires to go through for the locker. There is a nice little pocket in the housing that worked as the best spot for the wires to go through.
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Put the new pinion in first, set up with stock shims and all my set-up bearings. Here is how the stock pinion set-up looks.
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Dropped in the Carrier:
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Checked the backlash:
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Sorry can't read the dial, but it was off. Added a few shims to the carrier side and took a few away from the ring gear side and did it again and again until I got it to 7.5. Then ran my first patterns.
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Wasn't quite right, too far away, added more shims.
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Much better...but me and a buddy of mine messed up. We did another pattern after this one and noticed when we pulled the pinion the main oil slinger was loose against the inner pinion bearing.! So we put the race on it and pounded it down just a little bit more and seated it all the way. So back to where we started
!
Set it all back up and just to cover our asses, set the pinion preload with no shims just with a in lb dial torque wrench to give us the best results.
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Better!
. Decided to recheck the backlash and adjusted that a bit and moved it up to 9. Centered up the pattern a bit. Added another shim and ran it.
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Yeah best so far.
Probably going to run it with this. Went a head and decided to wait on final assembly until I have a friend of mine check it out and see what he thinks, he has done a few axles before. So went on and set up my bearing preload shims.
So I put in my stock preload shims and torqued down the pinion nut to check the preload. But...
pulled the threads on the stock nut!
Shit. Luckily a friend of mine had tore apart a few Dana axles and went an stole a few castle nuts that would work and have more bit to them.
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Put this nut on there and presto! was able to torque it to 200 ft. lbs. no issues. Still don't have the preload set yet, need to remove more shims to tighten it up. Will post up more as I go. Its not a how to guide but a good reference for someone who just needs a little push in the right direction.