What differential do you have?
Before you go yankin' and pullin' on the carrier be aware of the number of shims that'll be on the left and right side.....depending on your setup. Keep the berrin caps separate (L, R) too. Observe what comes out of the pinion shaft after you yank the seal.
Depending on the setup and backlash shims you might be playing tag with the machine shop as far as pinion depth on run/coast and then the carrier's backlash.

If the shims are worn and need replacing, you could be sleeping at the machine shop.......with the rear end in yer arms......

 

 

I think I would be sitting in front of a smart TV watching a whole lotta u-tube

 

I always get a 2nd set of bearings and hone out the insides so they are a soft press fit, like by hand and use them for mockup.
Once you have the right shims in the right place I press on the other set of bearings.
Once the good bearing& shims are in place re-check everything just to make sure everything is good.
Dave ----

 

 

There are 2 reasons why I don't like to use used bearing for setup.
1- they can be of different manf. than the new ones so can be off a little.
2- They are warn some and will be off a little. If you look over the book it gives different specs for new & old bearings.

Now on the pinion inner bearing the shims go first then the bearing right?
IIRC if you have the right shims you can put them behind the bearing race & housing to get the same results right?
I did this on one my mine but cant remember if it was a GM10 bolt or my AMC 20 in the drag car?
This way you can press on the pinion bearing and be done but if you need to change the shims it is easy to use a drift punch to drive out the race & swap shims.
just my .02
Dave ----

 

 

Yes measure everything and mark it down some place so you know what the old one stared with and can use that as a starting place for the new one.

Look over the shims for the pinion and see if they can be put under the race for that same bearing as that should do the same thing of moving the pinion gear closer to the center line IIRC.
One of the rears I did they no longer made the shims to fit on the gear so the kit came with ones to fit under the bearing race. Worked out great as you could knock the race out to change shims.
Dave ----

 

Definatley mic out the old shims and keep track of 'em...the whole shebang, meaning all of the shims' total dimensions and the individual ones as well. Before any install, as you know, mic out the new shims, too....get the total as close as you can with the new ones. A wee bit bigger is OK...
I like to keep the new shims with the object(s) they're going in.

And, yes, on the pinion the shims go first, then the berrin.

The Sterling azz end is nice to work on and easy enough to get the correct backspace.

Would you take a little tip? Before you yank everything, run some yellow....or blue marking paste on the gears and turn the gears one time to see where they line up.....This is just a "fer instance" type of deal and it might help when you're fiddlin' and diddlin' with the pinion depth and backspace.

 

 

Yessuh, that's the idea...

 

You don't really need a press to install those bearings, put the pinion and carrier in the freezer for a couple hours at least and put your bearings in the oven at 350* for 30 minutes and they will sometimes slip right on or you may have to drive them on slightly with a big socket or piece of pipe that fits on the inner race (don't hit the bearing cage) and a big dead blow hammer or a block of wood and regular hammer. Since the Ford/Sterling 10.25 uses outboard carrier shims you can go ahead and install the new carrier bearings. For the pinion you have to adjust the shim thinness between the inner pinion bearing and the pinion to set your pinion depth, you can't just use the old shim and press the bearing on (sometimes you get lucky and the pattern will be correct) because if your pinion depth needs adjusted you have to pull that bearing back off to adjust your shims, and it can be difficult to pull the pinion bearing back off without destroying it. To make it easier you can buy an extra inner pinion bearing and grind the center out of it so it will slide on and off of the pinion shaft easily, that way you can pull the bearing easily to adjust your shims, then when you get your pinion depth correct you install the shims and regular pinion bearing and put it all back together. You may have to take it all apart and put it back together 3-4 times to get your pinion depth correct.

 

WDD & WFD = Sterling 10.25."