Anyone have any advice on these patterns? First one is with about .007 backlash, it looked like the pinion was too deep so shimmed it by about .01 and the backlash was around .005.. The first 3 pictures are of the first pattern check, the next are after changing the pinion shims. The marks the pinion is leaving are almost sharp, but it's leaving paint residue on the rest of the gears that looks good to me.. Thanks for the help.

 

Are you applying resistance to the pinion flange and you rotate the ring gear to get the pattern? I only ask because your pattern on the painted teeth looks so light. You should get a much more definitive marking than that. But that being said, I think it looks like the pattern probably okay. But would be better if it was a little clearer to read.

 

Definitely need pressure/tension applied to get a proper pattern ... Pinion seems to be a bit deep.

 

A little more info please.
- is this just a gear swap?
- did you insure the carrier shims did not get mixed up left and right.
- did you instal new bearings.

Pinion depth looks good however it appears the pinion is sitting too deep (too close) into the ring gear.

I usually like to ink a few more teeth then that to get a better look at the pattern..

 

These a the shim thicknesses. The first was trying to achieve backlash, adjusted the carrier shims and then rechecked, achieved proper backlash on the second check and ran a pattern, that would be the first set of pictures. Then decided to add .01 shim to the pinion, which in turn changed the backlash, yet it was still in spec. Ran a pattern and that is the second set of pictures. We did apply drag to the pinion yet we didn't exactly know how much drag to put on it. I don't have a beam style torque wrench so there wasn't really a way to measure the turning torque it takes to spin the ring gear. I'm going to pick one up. The first pattern it looked almost perfect centered, the only problem was instead of a "wide" definable marking, it left a "thin" almost "sharp" pattern... Thank you guys for the help.

 

And yes it's on a Dana 30, going to 4.88 gears. All new bearings.

 

No one?

 

Looking at your last picture, it looks like the pinion is too close to the ring, but just a bit. The other pictures are tough to evaluate.

I recommend 'painting' the pinion to get a good transfer onto the ring.

 

With the pinion too close to the ring gear you need to put a bit more shim on the side carrier opposite side of the ring gear. That will give you contact more in the center of the tooth.

 

The contact was centered perfectly within the tooth, the only problem was that instead of it leaving a wide distinguished mark like everything shows, it was only a thin line.