gear preload ??

2002BLGT

Well-Known Member
Dec 18, 2003
2,945
4
59
Bedford VA
got the ford racing axles in , put it all together last night with new ring and pinion and all new bearings and races throughout the whole rearend ......the mesh was as good as any I have ever seen and the backlash was checked in 5 spots .008 .007 .009 .008 .008 so I left it at that ......

only thing questionable is the preload because I didnt have a beam torque wrench ......so I used the good old wrist on it and only put it a tick tighter than normal since I put new bearings in ......the car now has a little whine on deceleration , could adding a touch more preload fix this ?
 
no.
you would HAVE to remove the crush sleeve, and start over. the only way adding some torque can be done without total remove of the pinion gear, is if you use a solid pinion spacer. then loosen, and retorque....

so, i assume you tightened the pinion nut till the slevve crushed, and all the play was gone, then added some more torque till the pinion was harder to turn than no preload????


i think it is backlash related.
 
nosmatt said:
no.
you would HAVE to remove the crush sleeve, and start over. the only way adding some torque can be done without total remove of the pinion gear, is if you use a solid pinion spacer. then loosen, and retorque....

so, i assume you tightened the pinion nut till the slevve crushed, and all the play was gone, then added some more torque till the pinion was harder to turn than no preload????


i think it is backlash related.

I double checked the backlash 3 times ......I think I am going to give it about a 1/16th turn tighter on the pinion nut to give it a little more preload and see what happens , if that doesn't do it then I guess I will have to pull it back apart , I have done 3 sets of gears in the last 2 months and mine are the only ones making noise ...but mine is the only one that has gotten all new bearings installed ...... its not unbearable but its there definitely on decel .....the coast and drive side mesh look good .....I guess I should have stayed with the old bearings uuuuggggghhhhhh.........