Been having a hell of a time with this. Finally got pinion shim kit in, diff shims too, the diff shims will give me a starting point. Learning curves at every corner. I got the old outer bearing pressed off the pinion shaft to understand if there was a shim at all, and what size. It ended up being a good thing that I bought more than one puller. The Vevor collet stye wouldn't fit under the bearing due to lack of clearance. I started with the OTC knife splitter style, but this didn't push the bearing fully off the pressfit shaft and was still tight once it was fully retracted, so I switched to the Vevor puller, which finished the job. The original shim got damaged by the first puller. I installed a new shim on the pinion, followed by the bearing, which was a complete circus. I used the pressing tools, and the bearing wouldn't go on the way, it stopped about 1/4" before the shim. I maxed out the press force, a few tons before that, the nylon washer that seals the pressure gauge blew, foolish to have a nylon washer in there. I replaced that with a brake caliper copper washer which fit perfectly, problem solved. When I removed the pinion to see why it wouldn't press on all the way I found the OTC tool was partially pressed on too. Once I partially pulled the bearing off the OTC tool came off too, and I realized it's a 2 sided tool. Once I reversed it, the bearing went on smoothly. After all of that, I am unable to get the pinion with bearings, spacer, and oil slinger to snug down with the flange to start the pre-load process. The flange nut will run down completely tight , and I mean tight, and there is still about 1/8" of slop in the pinion assembly. I've pulled this apart at least 3 times now and come up with nothing, and finally made a discovery this morning that the gear set part number I bought (7C3Z-4209-D), although for a 10.5" F250, does not specify Excursion like another part number I found does (8C3Z-4209-F). So I will be contacting the dealer tomorrow as I think I have the wrong gear set part number. Although the pinions , old and new appear identical, theere could be an issue with the bearings/cups that the new gear set was included with. Today I will install my old pinion with it's original bearings after a bath in the parts washer, leaving the new cups installed in the housing, and see what happens, as this is all I can do for now.



Pinion shim kit



Pinion Shim kit




Carrier shims




OTC bearing press ring backwards




Would only press down to 1/4" due to ring on backwards

 

Washed up the old pinion and it's bearings. I re-installed the old pinion with both it's original bearings, factory shim back under the large inner bearing, original oil slinger at the outer bearing, and the original used crush sleeve. I kept the new races in place, and used the new tail seal, and flange. I was able to install the flange with the air gun to a point where there was no play in the pinion shaft and pre-load began, I continued with the same 3/4" long ratchet and my foot, I was able to apply some pre-load on an already crushed sleeve. So. I'm on hold till I order the other gear set part number. I still can't get past the pinion gear pattern between the two, despite the pinion shafts appear to be identical.

 

Finally some progress..!! Picked up the new ring and pinion kit on Friday (8C3Z-4209-F), and studied the pinion gear, no difference. I really got concerned this was not going to work either, then why the 2 different part numbers? I removed the bearing from the first pinion and put all those part back in their original box to go back for credit. When I pulled out the new pinion and large inner bearing and cup to install, I pulled out the install tool and it didn't fit. This bearing and cup were also packaged together in their own small box with a part number on it. This was the difference between the 2 pinion kits. This bearing and cup is much larger than the one from the first kit. Oddly the bearings in the first kit matched my original 2001 bearings. So the difference is in definitely in the pinion gear, obviously the gear twist cut is different between the 2, and there must be something else. There is clearly a design change that requires a larger inner bearing and cup. I am now able to get a torque on the pinion assembly so I can get the sleeve to crush and set the pinion depth. Also got the new carrier assembly outfitted with the ring gear, tone ring, and bearings.




















I decided to have some fun with my press, and since I have extra crush sleeves, I'm gonna experiment with a ready to go partially crushed sleeve for pinion depth. It took 8.5 tons per the gauge to get this crushed.

 

Well done! I don’t think I’d attempt this.

 

OK, pre-load is set to 19.0-20.5 In Lbs,I came up with a homemade way to hold the socket on so one person can leverage their foot on the drive bar. Also bought a 3/4" drive Sliding T-Handle Socket Breaker Bar and single socket. The carrier has been in and out twice now, and is pretty heavy from a sitting/kneeling position. Backlash is looking good, provided the carrier is centered of the new OE shims, don't recall their size. It appears I will need equal shimming on each side so I can start the marking and pattern process. An aftermarket shim kit will be ordered tomorrow.

 

Ok, time for fluid tomorrow. What a bear this has been with the carrier shims. I called a local and reputable mechanic who has worked on these 10.5's, texted him pics of the contact patterns, he approved, and frankly I'm a little done with this. So tomorrow if there is no unusual noise on the test drive, then we go for a 500 mile break in, then re-visit with a fluid change. I accepted the roughly 0.012" since the max parameters are from 0.008-0.015", with the preferred backlash 0.012-0.015"...

 

It’s unbelievable the detail and quality of your work. Thank you for sharing your expertise with us!

 

Well, I'm definitely no expert,,,,,but I'm good at reading........!!!

 

It's done, got the axle ends, and housing ends cleaned of any gunk, cleaned, lubed and re-used the axle O rings, (they were recently replaced), wheels back on, all torqued, filled with with Lucas petroleum HD oil for now, tilted the axle to the right, then left to fill the wells at the outer bearings, took it off jack stands and let it rest on the ground before filling to the overflow point one last time. The axles will carry oil to the bearing wells at the end, but I had already wiped those clean, and everything has been sitting open for 6 weeks. After the 500 mile break-in and gear pattern check, I'll fill it with the preferred (per Eaton) Shell Spirax HD oil.
It's extremely quiet, more than I was expecting. I drove about 20 miles with a few on the interstate, up to 63 mph. I feel there was more tonal noise there than I realized, because now it's super quiet.

 

510 miles driven as of yesterday, today was drain and inspect day. I think it's safe to say, things are looking like factory. I am very pleased. I do have a noticeable on and off the go pedal clunk, it's probably been there for some time, but I've been in tune with it now. I just found that the driveshaft slip spline has too much rotational play, or backlash. I'll have to contact the driveshaft guy and see what he says. The rear driveshaft was completely re-built with new, tube, joints, and slip yoke December 2017, plenty of grease, and new boots. Front shaft was a Ford replacement. He was supposed to have used the best spicer parts he could. Ready for some Spirax fluid in a few after the silicone tacks up.

 

I haven't used him yet personally, but I've heard good things about Tom Wood's Custom Driveshafts. I was planning on having him do the driveshafts for my Ex.

 

Ordered replacement latches for all 5 doors. The front left and right latch assemblies are the complete latch, lock motor, cables, push lock rod, and colored push to lock interior ****. The rear doors are just the latches, and the liftgate is the complete left and right latches, connecting cables, and center release unit.

 

I'd love to see the rims when they are done

 

They have been done for months. Post 247, page 7...

 

Doing all the doors and lift gate latches will make a huge difference. Don’t forget new rubber for all four doors and the big rear rubber weather seal. The doors will seal nicely and more solid like it did new.