My 8.8 Re-Gearing Endeavor.

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

Is that a duster or a demon i see there?

 

[Hahnsb2]

69 Roadrunner (dad's toy/project).

 

[bottledgt]

rock on with the .030. .030 is where it 'should' be anyway. there are some that dont pattern wortha shit there, but thats where i always start and most of the time end up real close to there. that looks real good though

 

[4x4junkie]

Yep, lookin' good now, I also say run it. .008" BL might've centered the pattern heel-toe slightly more, but that little bit ain't even close to worth messing around with at this point. It's ready for the gear lube!

 

[Hahnsb2]

Badass. One hopefully last question, the carrier shims equal about .002 less than the originals, is this OK? Or does it have to be exactly what it was stock? It still takes a rubber mallet to get the carrier in, but the difference is noticeable compared to stock.

 

[bottledgt]

i always go a little tighter than what i think you mean.i always get them tight enough that i have to drive them in pretty snug with a brass punch on the bearing races. if youre just hitting the center of the carrier with a mallet, id say it could be a few thou tighter actually.since youre at .008, you might make a shim stack about .002-.004 tighter on the side furthest away from the ring gear and try that, so it wont tighten the backlash any more. then check it again

 

[4x4junkie]

He's at .009" right now.

This is where a carrier spreader would make a huge difference. If that's the original carrier, then yes, I would say get it shimmed back up to the same amount of preload. I would add .002-.003" to the ring gear side, and maybe .001-.002" to the non-ring gear side (might help get it closer to .008" BL in the process).

 

[bottledgt]

you dont need a spreader on a 8.8.it dont have to be THAT tight. you should have to pry it out and put it in with a substantial preload though. id just shim the right side if it were me. as long as its .008 or a little more, itll be fine. .008,9,10,11, aint gonna matter much

 

[rickcdewitt]

you dont need a spreader on a 8.8.it dont have to be THAT tight. you should have to pry it out and put it in with a substantial preload though.

yep just creates extra heat if its too tight.i have never used my spreader on an 8.8.

 

[4x4junkie]

Ummm, the spreader isn't to make it tighter, that's how you burn up bearings. I use a spreader so you don't have to bang on shims, pry stuff, etc, it lets it slip right in or out (I measured how many turns of the spreader bolts it took just until the diff would then slip out, and maintained that amount when creating shims so it would just slip back in).

 

[rickcdewitt]

Ummm, the spreader isn't to make it tighter, that's how you burn up bearings.

Ummm,you can very easily get carried away with one if you are a noob to diffs

 

[bottledgt]

Ummm, the spreader isn't to make it tighter, that's how you burn up bearings. I use a spreader so you don't have to bang on shims, pry stuff, etc, it lets it slip right in or out (I measured how many turns of the spreader bolts it took just until the diff would then slip out, and maintained that amount when creating shims so it would just slip back in).

never banged on a shim in my life

 

[Todd]

If the preload is correct then you have to kind of pry to get the carrier our and bang it back in. If you havent had to do this then you have never had the correct carrier bearing preload.

A case spreader just makes it easier as junkie said. Granted I have never used one but I can think of many times where one would have been nice.

Sound like you got it Hahns