Well, the housing is fully prepped, pinion bearing races pressed in, axle shafts studded and ready to go, ring gear on the eaton, lots of measurements taken...

the issue we're running into is that the mating surface of the main caps are all at different heights relative to the mating surface of the rear pinion bearing race (for the bearing that butts up against the rear face of the pinion). so we're having difficulty guessing where to start with the pinion shims. the best thing we can think of is to simply start with the shim depth that was installed on the other set of gears, and work from there.

here's the question. what would be the best way to remove the pinion bearing to add shims? we're looking for a method that will not damage the bearing. and yes, we have a 5 ton hydraulic press. just no plate that will sandwich between the pinion and bearing sufficiently to pry the two apart once we press it on with the initial shims.

this is fun, and i'm learning a lot, but my fucking brain hurts. i mean, it feels like i took a hundred bong hits last night. this process is slightly maddening. we started with a 12 bolt that had at least four inches thick of grime and crap coating the entire housing. now we have a housing that looks like it was cast and assembled yesterday, and ALL new parts. we even took the wire wheel to all the brake parts and re-painted them. i'll post pictures when i'm finally done...

oh, and just so you can laugh instead of getting pissy, sweetneon, i shot myself in the eye with a brake shoe retainer cap on saturday night. luckily it scared the living piss out of me more than it hurt... i hate drum brakes.

jason

nevermind, i found a pinion bearing separator plate at a industrial tool place down in west sacramento.

took a while, but i found one.

jason

did it take as long as your first post??? lol

well, lets see. judging by the length of my first post, it probably took me about 3 minutes to type. maybe 4 if i was really lagging. and it took me at least three hours (i called every hydraulic supply and large tool supply store in the greater sacramento area - probably 20-30 phone calls). so yes, it took me longer to find the part than it did to post.

i've obviously got nothing better to do.