i am about to replace my one legger with a posi. now i am using the stock 3.73 gears. i know that the guy before me just had the bearings done on it by a pro shop. my question is... Can i just put my ring gear on my posi and install it. or am i going to have to re-shim the pinion gear? i have not touched the pinion gear yet. The rear end was tight before i pulled out the open diff. Thanks in advance.

 

No you are puting a new diff in and it will not match the stock pinion depth. I am curenty doing the same thing . My friend was sapose to help me and he thought that it was a simple bolt in . Now I have the wrong shim in there and have to do it all over agian . Had to buy a dial indacater with magnetic bace and an inch pound wrench from harbor fright they took about 2 weeks to deliver . The stock carrier shims are to thick also .

 

ok now i have to do some more reaserch on this swap. thanks for the info.

 

if all you're doing is swapping the carrier then yes you can just swap the ring gear to the new carreir, as long as you keep the series the same. you'd need to set back lash and check the contact pattern. it's a pretty easy job to swap carriers.

 

now when i pulled the old carrier out, it had 2 shims in it. one on each side. I was reading on a different thread that someone said that i was going to have to use a .40 shim to preload the bearings. I don't understand why. The factory did not have them in it. and this new diff is tight going in with the stock shims. i don't see how i could even get another shim in there. Thanks

 

my guess is you don't have a good handle on what you're reading. you can not increase the total thickness of the carreir shims, you can change the aggangement of the carreir shims from side to side, in fact you may need to to get the correct back lash.

 

ok I think i understand. the two shims are the only ones that go in there. if the back-lash is incorrect I need to switch their positions. The thickness of the shims are different and have a correct place. I use the original shims that came with the rearend, and i should not have to buy new ones for the carrier.

What I read about preload would be for the pinion gear, and i am not going to be pulling it out. Am I correct?

 

Ok if you are puting in a stock posi in the stock shims should work & the pinion preload has not changed . If you remember witch one was right and left put them back in that way . But check the backlash for good mesure . If you wer putting in a carrier in with a shim kit you would put that extra shim in to increce the carrier preload . That is the amount of drag on the carrier bearings , you would also check that of the pinion nut . Good luck

 

Thanks for the info.