Can you give me some info on what I am looking for in the marking compound and how to initially set up the pinion on a 9 bolt? I have the stock old pinion. It was a series 2 carrier 2.77 ratio set. I am moving up to a new series 3 carrier and 3.91:1 gear set. The old pinion did not have a shim under its head. Now since I got the gears from diffsolutions they do not have a pinion depth setting on them. What I was told was to get the old pinion bearings honed out so I can easily install/remove the pinion. I was going to start with no shim at all, but I read on the site that someone set up a rear that needed a whole lot more shim. Now can anyone explain with the gear marking compound what I am looking for as far as pinion placement? First I am going to install the pinion with no shim, put the bearings on and tighten the nut with the old crush sleeve. Then I am going to install the carrier with some shims to get zero clearance. I am then going to paint the marking compound on the ring gear and spin the pinion forward and back. Now what am I looking for in the marking compound that would indicate I have the pinion correct?
Thanks

 

look in your manual or gear maker web sites for pics or contact patterns, or post a pic of your pattern and someone will tell you what you need to do.

 

You don't want ZERO clearance, you want a backlash of around .008 to .012" of clearance. That is the play of the carrier ring gear to the pinion gear when the pinion is held stationary.

The best thing to do is to setup the pinion, get it in, then install the carrier w/ ring gear. Setup the backlash to a correct # by using the shims to shim it one way or the other. Once backlash is correct, check the patter on the teeth using the compound. Just mark 2 or 3 teeth front and back so not to use too much. If the pattern is not up to spec on the install instructions provided, you know that you now have to either shim the pinion bearing more or less, depending on the pattern seen.

That is why you set backlash first, b/c if backlash is correct, and the pattern is off, you don't have the right shim on the pinion.