Gear pattern diagnosis.

[stephen4785]

Im in the middle of setting up gears for the front axle on my 01 1500 Dodge ram(d44 axle). Pattern doesnt look good to me but I cant figure out what the best diagnosis is based on gear pattern charts Iv seen.
I havent setup gears since school(10 years ago) some Im a bit rusty. thanks for any help.


and yes Im going to celan out that crap in the bottom before final assembly.

[94mstng94]

don't know if this will help you.

[stephen4785]

Well I took some shim out of the pinion and moved the ring in toward the pinion. Looks better but still not perfect. A buddy of mine looked at it and said it's not picture perfect but it's an acceptable pattern now.
Ill have to take a better pic of the cosat side but you can sorta tell.
The coast side looks like the ring gear isnt deep enough but it's just the odd angle of the pic.

[tkblkcobra]

Both Richmond Gear and Motive Gear have trouble shooting and what to do on certain patterns etc. I'm no expert, but if you look at thier tech stuff it may be of some use for you. The second picture, the pattern looks much better. Just google the names, Motive is a pdf of the gear catalog.

[4pnt6]

If those gears are anything like the ford racing gears then there should be a number stamped onto the pinion that says something like "+.003 or -.002". This number is telling you to take the stock pinion shim and subtract or add to it for the correct pinion depth. If the number is there then start with that shim thickness and go from there. If it is not it looks like you need to add shims for less pinion depth. Bring the pinion further out. The contact patch needs to be almost complete opposite from where it's at (further towards the inside of the ring gear). Try it and let us know.

[stephen4785]

Iv tried shimming the pinion out more but then the ring gear binds up with the pinion and I cant turn it after the carrier caps are torqued down. What's frustrating me is that I have no shims on the back side of the ring gear bearing and the factory setup had .058 shim under the pinion. The first set of pictures the pinion has .067 shim under it and none on the ring gear back side. The second pics has a .053 shim under the pinion and no shims on the back side of the ring gear. I would think that if I took some shim out of the pinion the contact pattern would be farther out on the toe but it's not. Still looks like the pinion isnt deep enough.

[stephen4785]

If those gears are anything like the ford racing gears then there should be a number stamped onto the pinion that says something like "+.003 or -.002". This number is telling you to take the stock pinion shim and subtract or add to it for the correct pinion depth. If the number is there then start with that shim thickness and go from there. If it is not it looks like you need to add shims for less pinion depth. Bring the pinion further out. The contact patch needs to be almost complete opposite from where it's at (further towards the inside of the ring gear). Try it and let us know.

The pinion doesnt have any shim suggested marking on it for some reason. I know what your talking about and the old pinion had it. Even the book that came with the new pinion set had the legend for the plus and minus markings but the dang pinion doesnt have squat.