Good evening guys.

Well, rear end rebuild did NOT go as planned. Found out what some of the issues were though. The pinion shim was only half there, the rest is in small bits. Also ,the rear u joint is toast. Not sure which one came first, but it was either the pinion nut backed off, causing too much play and eating up the pinion shim. Thus, creating vibration that killed the u joint. Or , the u joint died, loosened the pinion nut by vibration, caused the pinion to eat the shim and killing the pinion. Either way, it is a mess.........................

The stock R&P are in OK condition, but the inner pinion bearing can be removed wit ha screwdriver and little effort. So, it was a mad scramble to find a new pinion shim, nearest on was in Kenyon, MN. Found some at a shop in Cambridge, went and got them. Installed shims on new pinion, press the inner bearing on, went to install the pinion and the outer bearing would not go on the pinion without a LOT of force. Turns out the new pinion is machined incorrectly, about .006 -.008 to large. WTF??????????????? Called Rock Auto and am sending it back, they are going to contact the manufacturer on Monday.

GRRRRRRRRR, I hate fixing ****. About time for a NEW (to me) truck.......................

Anywho, a big thanks to Dave and Tom for coming up today to help out.