I didn't have a bearing puller at first but once i got my hands on one the pinion bearing was a piece of cake. I had to take it off 2 times to change shims to get the proper depth. I installed the gears w/ .006-.008 of backlash doing equally spaced checks around the gear. The posi works awesome and i feel a pretty good difference in performance, nothing real crazy but noticeable.

 

Congratulations on completing the gear install.

 

Just out of curiosity, what size pinion shim did you end up using? .035" is the norm, and I havn't seen many deviate from that.

Congrats though!

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If you live in Southeastern US, check us out!
South East Thirdgen

1987 Trans Am 305
14.88 @ 92.81

 

GMTech, you are exactly right on the money there. I first used the original shim but it was a little to shallow into the ring gear. Then i used the smaller shims but used one correct one and one wrong by accident and it was something like .048 total thickness. The stock shim was only .033 all around it. In the end i used two smaller shims to come up w/ a total thickness of .035, .002 more than the stock one to get it right. This is what i tried to accomplish the second time, but i measured two of them and mixed them up.

[This message has been edited by '92purplehaze (edited October 28, 2001).]

 

Good deal. Glad to see people take the time to do it right.

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If you live in Southeastern US, check us out!
South East Thirdgen

1987 Trans Am 305
14.88 @ 92.81

 

How much was the posi unit from SLP? is it a series 3 carrier(i think i said that correctly)and how much power will it hold? thanks for any info.

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Wide Open Till You See God...Then Brake

 

The posi unit was $99. I am not sure if it is a 2 series or 3 series carrier, but i believe it is a 3 series. You need to have 28 spline axles as well. I did the posi and gears at the same time so the series carrier didn't matter. I am not sure how much power it will hold, but i'm sure it can handle any power that a stock headed and cammed 305 will ever dish out. For $99, i don't care if the thing goes in a year.

 

what about behind a 400hp 406? think it would live long without slicks? oh, and what carrier is 3.42?

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Wide Open Till You See God...Then Brake

 

The $99 OEM posi is great. Plan on putting a 400hp motor in front of mine. I run 3.42 gears on it. Its a 3 series carrier from a LS1 4th gen. SLP takes them out and puts HD series in for the SS. According to www.torsen.com it should handle the power.

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91 Camaro RS 5.0L Black Convertible 700R4
** Added so far **
*GM Wonderbar,Alston SFC's,spohn LCA's and Panhard rod
*Turbo City Inj Spacer
*Dual Snorkel Air Filter
*March Performance Pulleys
*GM 3.42 Gears with OEM Zexel POSI
*Edelbrock headers
*3" High Flow Cat
*3" Dynomax Exhaust
*Walbro 255 lph Fuel Pump
***Future 330hp Vortec Crate with LT4 hotcam and 454 TBI

 

The OEM posi is a 3 series carrier but it is not the T-3R Torsen differential. It is the slightly weaker T-2 unit. Just clarifying for others....... I have the same T-2 carrier with 3.42s in my GTA.... It works well.....

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1987 GTA L98 MD8
355, TFS Heads, LT4 Hot Cam
My GTA

The Minnesota F-body Club

 

I can tell you that it is more likely to live behind radials "without slicks" than it will with slicks.

Then again, the teeth on the ring gear are more likely to go than the posi is. A 406 is a torque motor, and that is what "spins", or shaves the teeth. Using slicks just compounds the pressure on the teeth.

As long as you "preload" the rear axle before you launch off the start, then it should extend the life of the gears. It's that sudden BANG that really eats them up.

AJ