Keep in mind the differences in gearing between the automatics and manuals...

M5R2: ----- E4OD:
1st: 3.90 --- 2.71
2nd: 2.25 --- 1.54
3rd: 1.50 --- 1.00
4th: 1.00 --- 0.71
5th: 0.80 --- ----

 

if you can rotate your ring gear without moving the pinion you have some serious play in the teeth of the gears which would be bad cause if you hammered the throttle the gears would slap and possibly break

think about it 0.08"-0.10" is not very much at all...its JUST enough to make sure that the gears will not bind when they engage...so as long as its between those measurements it should be moving enough to prevent binding and excessive pressure on the teeth and it will stay in proper gear allignment so the teeth wear evenly...

thats just my thoughts...lemme know if i missed something

 

ok so i just read something useful for once!

we are both right man

backlash: When you turn the pinion on your differential it will turn a specific amount of space before it actually contacts the the ring gear to turn your axles

BUT backlash is set by sliding the ring gear and carrier left or right...(im sorry i read it wrong it says play) but the actual play is supposed to be less than 0.003" so...

to set backlash you remove one shim from the left side of the carrier and instal the same one on the right side, therefore sliding you ring gear and carrier to the left, increasing backlash...the spec backlash is between 0.007" and 0.015" according to this site...which is far from what the book says that came with my R&P...

knowing this i would NOT want 0.08" of backlash, that much would definately kill my diff

Setting Backlash

OP...go to this link and read it...i think i read it 2 or 3 times then the little light bulb came on and it all made sense lol...like i said...its fairly simple

"Pinion shims are used to establish the pattern of the mesh of the pinion with the ring gear, not the backlash. Once the proper pinion depth is set, so that the mesh pattern is centered on the faces of the ring gear teeth, the backlash is set by varying the shims that position the differential carrier, and thus the ring gear, from left to right or vice versa, in the axle housing."

 

^^^ scared! Do it yourself. Break it. Learn from your mistakes.Fix it and your still ahead!! Then you can say you can do it

 

X2 ... plan a whol day so if you mess up you have time to fix it and think about it and take your time

no one touches my truck...if i cant do it or learn how to do it...i dont need it haha...

just make sure you measure properly and acurately...measure 10 times and you wont **** anything up....same as the old carpenters saying "measure twice cut once"...torque everything properly dont just guess it...the only things you really need to "understand" are the measurements themselves...backlash and pinion depth...they are both explained in the link i provided...and hopefully i will be doing my R&P tomorrow so ill have pics and some info for ya...learn from my mistakes (which are hopefully few if any haha)