8.8 whine while coasting...with gear pattern pics

[projectnitemare]

Ok this one has me a little stumped/irritated. Got this one in to fix, has less than 1000mi on the gearset with metal in the oil. Explorer 8.8. The driver's side shims had pushed out into the axle, that was the metal. I've done tons of these with no issues and this one is a bastard. No matter what you do to this thing the pattern sucks. Its looks damn identical to this pattern at any pinion shim thickness using the correct 8-12 thou backlash. These are 4.10 ford racing gears using the .030 shim from under the factory 3.73 gearset. To me I would say the pinion is too close from the pattern but it looks just the same with a .015 shim. The coast side leaves a tiny line near the toe, not to mention if you roll the gears as if it were coasting you can hear noise. I've checked everything I can think of. And the fact of them being ford gears you can't use a pinion depth tool because the pinions aren't marked, if they were marked I would have just set it at that and put it back together.

 

[adsm08]

Is it possible the housing is shot?

I'll admit that I don't know much about setting up gears, but it sure sounds to me like the shims are moving something other than the gears.

 

[Road Angels]

ring madness

Was the ring and pinion set dealer supplied and unopened, some times shops will buy a few sets and match up the best fitting pieces and throw the rest back in the boxes and return the rest, also you may want to put the carrier races back in the housing and caps tightened and see if they lock down, and see if they move around by hand, be sure they are seated flush with no shims also measure the out side of the races. edge to outer edge at four 90 degree postions if the housing is warped it should measure out at two of the postions, and last double check the part numbers and axle code you just never know, it seems to me a carrier problem, cause changing the pinion shim isnt doing any thing, one last thing check the shim side of the races and be sure not the small faced racen there are 3 types

 

[4x4junkie]

Those pics are telling me the pinion is waayy too far out. Instead of a .015" shim, maybe try a .040 or .045"?

Any chance the pinion bearing itself might have an issue? (wrong type or worn)?

 

[projectnitemare]

I haven't went past .040 since that was all the instructions listed was a range of .010 to .038. Most 8.8s that I can recall doing were happy with .026-.032 of shim. I have played with this most of the day with no change. The carrier is true, even tried a different carrier. I actually was able to acquire the original gear set and and shims that came out of this. Put it back together and the pattern is still pretty much the same as above. I got new pinion bearings and races to rule those out as well. The only thing I haven't done is try installing in a different housing. My concern is the thing managed to spit the shims out. I'll try going between .040 and .050 much if that doesn't make things any better I may have to believe there is some issue with the housing itself.

 

[adsm08]

That's what I am thinking too. The housing may be split just a hair allowing the races to sink in instead of pushing the pinion out. It could explain the spit shims too if the whole casing is expanding.

 

[4x4junkie]

Yeah if you put it's original gears & shims back in it and they were like that too, that housing is toast. I wouldn't even continue f'ing around with it, find another axle.

 

[projectnitemare]

For shits and grins I just did try putting more shim into it, .045, .050, .055 and .060. Same exact pattern as every other time. I measured the old and new pinion, there is only .002 difference between them, so this should have setup around .030, which was the original. I was really trying to find glimmer of hope this would work out, it's in a V8 S-10 which really isn't a bolt in affair.

 

[projectnitemare]

Also just tried no shim at all, slightly better pattern but the coast still sucks it looks the same as all the other ones. I might try a new set of bearings and races from somewhere else to see if they measure differently at all. Aside from if there is a difference I'm totally lost on this, can't say I've ever seen this happen

 

[projectnitemare]

Mystery solved. Not only the master kit that came with the R&P but also the newly purchased inner pinion race were incorrect. How the thing survived running is a miracle and how there are no marks on the old race or bearing is amazing too. I'll take my chance on the shims that had walked out, I dont think it was preloaded enough.

 

[4x4junkie]

Mystery solved. Not only the master kit that came with the R&P but also the newly purchased inner pinion race were incorrect. How the thing survived running is a miracle and how there are no marks on the old race or bearing is amazing too. I'll take my chance on the shims that had walked out, I dont think it was preloaded enough.

I had a feeling about that.

Glad you got it sorted out.

If you don't mind me asking, what brand was that install kit?

 

[projectnitemare]

Not sure on who the kit truely came from, it came as a packaged set with a Ford Racing gear set. They were Koyo bearings. The really wild thing was I got a new race and bearing, both correct for an 8.8 axle. The race was boxed wrong and was the same race I took from the housing. I got a new set of Nationals and problem solved.

 

[dla]

Was the ring and pinion set dealer supplied and unopened, some times shops will buy a few sets and match up the best fitting pieces and throw the rest back in the boxes and return the rest, also you may want to put the carrier races back in the housing and caps tightened and see if they lock down, and see if they move around by hand, be sure they are seated flush with no shims also measure the out side of the races. edge to outer edge at four 90 degree postions if the housing is warped it should measure out at two of the postions, and last double check the part numbers and axle code you just never know, it seems to me a carrier problem, cause changing the pinion shim isnt doing any thing, one last thing check the shim side of the races and be sure not the small faced racen there are 3 types

OK, I think you were right about the races. How do you tell them apart?