Based on this gear pattern..

[harrycalahan]

Would you shim the pinion in or out? The interwebs says shim the pinion towards the ring, which seems right to me. However that does not improve my pattern. The pictured pattern is with a .025 shim. Im going to try dropping it down to .01 tomorrow when my neck and arms have recovered. Ive had it in and out around 8x now...

 

[C ountry]

I would say the pinion needs to be closer to the carrier

 

[BattleSausage]

From the looks of it I would also definitely suggest in to the carrier, but doing a short pattern like that makes it harder to read. I would honestly suggest coating at least 5-6 teeth heavy, both front and back, and then I put the old pinion back on tight enough I can use a drill to spin in quickly in both directions. This results in a more defined pattern for both the coast and drive.

Also, you mentioned going from a .025 to .01 which is a huge jump and in the wrong direction. At most I move .004-.005 at a time. Is there any numbers stamped on the pinion or case? What case is this btw as most times I have found the .030-.036 range to be close or at least a good starting point.

 

[harrycalahan]

From the looks of it I would also definitely suggest in to the carrier, but doing a short pattern like that makes it harder to read. I would honestly suggest coating at least 5-6 teeth heavy, both front and back, and then I put the old pinion back on tight enough I can use a drill to spin in quickly in both directions. This results in a more defined pattern for both the coast and drive.

Also, you mentioned going from a .025 to .01 which is a huge jump and in the wrong direction. At most I move .004-.005 at a time. Is there any numbers stamped on the pinion or case? What case is this btw as most times I have found the .030-.036 range to be close or at least a good starting point.

Ford 8.8
I agree that final fitting should be shimmed in small increments. However I could not get my pattern to move towards the toe. For kicks, I removed all the shims and that sent the pattern towards the toe albeit too far but in the right direction. Makes no sense to me but the pattern tells the truth of whats going on. Below is the stamping on the pinion....

Also, I was stingy on the paste because I was almost out. Picked up a new tin of it today. Going reset with a .010 shim and go from there.

 

[harrycalahan]

Finally...getting close. This is with .012”.

The original gear set had a .025 pinion shim. And everything I read online said if you stick with Ford branded gears like I did, you will most likely use the same shim. Apparently Im the exception, as usual. I even measured both pinion gear drop dimensions side by side. They were within .002 of each other. So I thought for sure it would use the same shim. But obviously the gear geometry is different enough between the two to call for a different depth.

 

[harrycalahan]

These were patterned with a .015 shim. I think its passable but Id like to get the coast closer to the toe.

 

[BattleSausage]

Ford 8.8
I agree that final fitting should be shimmed in small increments. However I could not get my pattern to move towards the toe. For kicks, I removed all the shims and that sent the pattern towards the toe albeit too far but in the right direction. Makes no sense to me but the pattern tells the truth of whats going on. Below is the stamping on the pinion....

Also, I was stingy on the paste because I was almost out. Picked up a new tin of it today. Going reset with a .010 shim and go from there.
View attachment 3338539

I think you’ve got it under control, I too have found the same with GM gears that USUALLY you can use the original shim or at least it’s a good starting point. Seems a bit tight to have the pinion that close to the housing but I’m not a Ford guy and I’ve never messed with an 8.8 so I couldn’t say.

 

[Shads]

Are you setting backlash after each pinion shim change?

 

[harrycalahan]

Are you setting backlash after each pinion shim change?

Yes. Got everything finalized today. Should be good to go.