my 84 F150 was owned by an idiot, and the most recent thing i found was that the differential pinion nut was loose. the pinion was just flopping around. the only symptom was an unusually loud clang when i put it in reverse. other than that not noticeable vibration or noise. anyway, today i put a new crush sleeve, nut, and seal on, set the pinion preload, and amazingly everything seems fine. no unusual wear or tooth damage anywhere that i could see. however, the backlash is 0.020, vs. a spec of 0.008 to 0.015. should i fix this or let it slide? in case you noticed my other thread where i'm thinking about swapping the gears, this question is in case i decide to stick with the ring and pinion i have. if you have an old axle with backlash 0.005 out of spec would you shim it to spec or let it go?

 

I'd let it go, and FWIW your C-clips will go long before your R&P.

 

20 thou is nothing, if you pull it apart again, tighten it up then, else don't worry about it.

Unless of course you are putting big HP's or weights to it, then you'll want to get the pinion a little deeper into the ring gear for strength.

-Enjoy
fh : )_~

 

lol festus maybe you should stop helping me so much "You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Festus Hagen again."

 

Reps are a status, I could care less about status ... I just like helping folks...

But thank you for trying.

-Enjoy
fh : )_~