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Rear Dana 44 Rebuild Page 5

 
Figure 17
Figure 17

Figure 17. Here we see the shim pack in the bore and the set up race sitting off to the side. This is where the pinion depth is adjusted. Too deep, and you remove shims, too shallow, and you add shims here.

Figure 18
Figure 18

Figure 18. The carrier has been set in the housing so backlash can be checked. In this assembly, there are shims behind the bearings on the carrier. we also are using setup bearings on the carrier so we will not need special tools to get them on and off. We started with .035 on each side, and the carrier fit snugly in the housing. We will not add more shims for preload until the other clearances are all set and we are done. The shims for fitting should be snug enough so there is no movement of the carrier back and forth in the housing. The bearing caps are torqued to 70ft lbs.

Figure 19
Figure 19

Figure 19. Backlash is checked with a dial indicator. The pinion is installed and the yoke nut tightened until the bearings are just snug, as we are not setting preload yet. The movement of the ring gear is checked and in this instance, it was .010. This is our baseline as we know the pinion is not quite deep enough yet. As the pinion moves in, the backlash will decrease and it will need to be readjusted.

Figure 20
Figure 20

Figure 20. This is the drive pattern from the first attempt at the axle assembly. As you can see, there is barely any contact with the pinion, it is all at the top of the tooth. We took it all apart and added .020 shims under the bearing race in the housing. We then reassembled the unit and checked the pattern again.