solid pinion spacer worth it?
The standard crush sleeve will deform over time, and allow the pinion gear to get "sloppy" over time, which will increase stresses. A solid pinion spacer will help alleviate the problem, but makes gear setup a little harder. That is the best explanation I have. I figured for $17.99 it couldn't hurt anything.
Given the shop charges to do a rear end job, no
reason not to use all the best materials. The guy I
had do mine went about it pretty smart; he went and
measured the pinion depths of the original and the
3.42 pinion piece, the old crush sleeve as-crushed,
and stacked the hard spacer and shims to make it
all come out even; he didn't have to go through a
bunch of fit-and-try that way.
reason not to use all the best materials. The guy I
had do mine went about it pretty smart; he went and
measured the pinion depths of the original and the
3.42 pinion piece, the old crush sleeve as-crushed,
and stacked the hard spacer and shims to make it
all come out even; he didn't have to go through a
bunch of fit-and-try that way.
They are a very good option, and cheap insurance. They save bearings and gears and can be had for under $10. If all you are doing is removing the crush sleeve, then just measure that and stack up the spacer to the same thickness. If you are doing a gear change there is some math involved. After it is installed you need to check the amount of torque needed to rotate the pinion, old bearings need about 10-15 in/lbs, new ones about 20.
I used one on my 10 bolt in an m6 that took 1.67 launches on et streets and dumps from 5k. My posi let go before the gears did.... For my 12 bolt build up I am using one...
Heres a picture of what i was doing to my 10 bolt
Heres a picture of what i was doing to my 10 bolt
