Alright, got my rear end all set up correctly now with 20-25 inch-pounds pinion preload and right at .008" backlash. Put it in the car and just took a test drive. Everything feels great with no sloppy feeling or anything. What should the running tempature of the rear end be? My temp gun is at work but I can pretty accurately guess it was about 120*-130* after a twenty minute drive with some highway speeds and also romping on it a couple times. Sound about right? What would be a high range limit for it to run?

 

That's pretty believable. That's about as hot as medium hot running water from your sink.

I'd say if it was too hot to keep your hand on for any length of time, then there's something wrong. It's going to warm up somewhat, but not drastically. At a guess, I'd say more than about 160° would be bad.

Sounds to me like you're done and ready to move on.

 

Sweet

Thanks for the help.