My thoughts in bold.

 

Here's some write-ups I referenced when I was learning.

http://www.vernco.com/rearaxle5/index.htm

http://www.jawsgear.com/tech_kits.php

http://www.greenfries.info/rear_gear.htm

http://www.keliente.com/gears1.htm

 

I would definitely get some gear paint to check your pattern. You also need to dial indicator to check your backlash as 01ssreda4 said above. By feel it may seem like they are "right up against" each other but keep in mind that the distance you are measuring is thousandths of an inch, which in my opinion is impossible to measure by "feel". I had a friend put a rear together by feel and it lasted about 10 miles before it completely seized up. It is best to measure this stuff and know for sure. You can turn a $300 ring and pinion set into a paperweight really quick if you don't know what you are doing, ask me how I know this!

 

Gear paint is hard to find in stores, so you can also try toothpaste to check your pattern.

 

My bearing/rebuild kit came with a tiny drop of gear paint - what a joke. I went to every part store in my area looking for the stuff, finally got it at the dealership. It cost $12 for the tube but I needed it, what can you do.

 

I ran out of the stuff Ratech gives you in the rebuild kit, and I search everywhere and couldnt find any at any auto parts stores. I finally found the last tube at a hole in the wall auto parts store outside of town Its Permatex Prussian Blue.

 

How do you know this? J/K

 

Hlaalu- If you are talking about the preload on the bearings for the pinion, that is where the 25 inch lbs comes from.

If you are talking about how much torque should be applied to do the final torque tightening on the pinion nut, that depends on crush or solid spacer. Crush sleeve I've heard is around 450lb ft lbs and solid spacer instructions say 125 ft lbs. Don't forget red loctite.

 

Thanks, you've been very helpful!

That makes sense, I'm going to try and get some paint.

Really toothpaste? Seems like that would be really thick and hard to get off. What about regular paint from around the house?


When I have the paint or toothpaste on the gears do I just do a few turns in both directions? Then wipe it off when I snap some photos?

 

spread it on 5 teeth front and back. Then when you rotate it you have to apy pressure to the ring gear. Stick a pry bar between the case and the side of the ring gear rotate it_ then move the pry bar to the other side of the ring gear and turn it the other direction.

 

^^^thats right, you want to apply drag to the ring gear to get an accurate pattern. Gear paint is actually more like grease, not paint. In order to clear a pattern (which will be loaded on the pinion as well) get a can of brake parts cleaner and spray the teeth off. That will allow you to rewipe and look again. Nothing wrong with doing it several times to ensure you are seeing it correctly.

 

Could find any gear paint so I tried the toothpaste and it just came off really easily and I couldn't tell where the pattern was. Should I let the toothpaste dry. Would white-out work?

 

go to the gm dealer and get some. Comes in like a 3 oz tube and that's enough to do 100 patterns.

 

Removing the carrier / checking backlash and pattern all seems unnecessary just for changing the pinion seal. If you mark the nut and put it back (or a fraction tighter) you will be good to go.

 

^^^^X 2
read all the above and you should be ok. on my first try I only followed>>> http://www.keliente.com/gears1.htm << and no problems/no noise after 10 k miles
Johnny

 

managed to find some GM gear marking compound, i'll post some pics up shortly

 

Here are the pictures, I appreciate any advice. To me, looks like the wear in the first two pictures is good...maybe a little on the outside, and the in the last two pictures it looks like it's off on the inside of the tooth.

 

Look on JAWS write up, at the bottom is sample patterns to compare yours by.

 

Yeah just checked that out, still a little confused on how to center the wear

 

your pinion is too deep. that pattern is pretty bad. if it were that low on the coast (concave) side, it wouldnt be too bad, but its on the drive side.