I am in the process of setting up my first 9" ford and having a little strangeness with the pattern.
I have the set the pinion preload OK using a solid spacer kit, and the carrier preload is good.
I have no problem setting up the backlash to the 8-10 thou recommended by Richmond.
My problem is this. The pattern on the drive side of the gear looks good. With a 16 thou shim it is slightly toward the toe, with an 18 thou shim it is right in the middle of the tooth.
No matter what I do with it however, the coast side pattern always runs off the heel side.
Is this acceptable if the drive side is spot on?
If not I have no idea how to correct it. I have tried shims from 15-25 and all it does is screw up the drive side pattern.
Help?
Thanks
Roy