6 years ago I put new gears in my jeep and a friend of mine had a special tool for measuring the pinion depth. It made the job easier than I thought it would be. Well I am going to change gears and thought I would buy the tool myself, except I don't know what it was called. Does anyone use something like this? If so where do I get one and is one better than another? Tony
Sounds like a dial indicator on a magnetic base. More than likely similar to this? http://www.shars.com/products/measu...e-with-1-001-white-face-dial-test-indicator-1 Or even this. http://www.shars.com/products/measuring/depth-gages/0-4-digimatic-depth-gage-1
Its called a pinion depth checker, they are sold in a kit form for a reasonable cost from Jegs or Summit. I found them to be less substantial and repeatability was a problem. Where you could make the same exact measure to the thousandth over and over. I would up making my own set. The kits are ok for limited use just be careful when making measurements, don't be in a hurry and constantly question yourself about the readings. The kit has instructions on how to use it.
I have those tools already. We took the depth off of the pinion, that was written on the pinion. Then we bolted a round piece in place of the gears, and took a measurement. I believe we used it to set the crush sleeve depth, witch in turns set s the pinion.
Crush sleeve crush does not set pinion depth, there will be shims for that, all the crush sleeve is for is to maintain bearing preload. Gives the pinion nut something to tighten against. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
You need a depth gauge that will span across the end caps' centerline. You could used a bar or straight edge ,and the tail end of a vernier caliper. Then subtract the bar thickness. Should be able to read it within a few thou.
Its the cases that have the most variance start with the shim package from the old gears. I do not use a crush sleeve when checking pattern. Put the sleeve in after you have achieved a good pattern except for 8 and 9" Fords where the shim package is not on the pinion.
That's basically what his tool did. That I can do. This is a Ford 8.8 that is getting the gear change.
There should be a rotational torque for setting the preload, its tighten then test rotational torque then tighten some more and test some more etc. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
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