I just put a spool and new gears in a rear dana 44. How much "play" shouls I have between the ring gear and the pinion gear before adding oil?

What exactly do you mean by "play"? Hope you know about things like measuring backlash and pinion drag along with determining the engagement pattern of the gears. If not, your gears will not be long for this world. There's a whole lot more to it than bolting the parts in.

BTT

Originally posted by cmegoup
What exactly do you mean by "play"? Hope you know about things like measuring backlash and pinion drag along with determining the engagement pattern of the gears. If not, your gears will not be long for this world. There's a whole lot more to it than bolting the parts in.

There is a little "play" in the pinion gear. Small ammount of movement back and forth before engaging the ring gear. And no I don't know about all that other stuff, but I would love to learn. Anywhere I can go to learn to set it up right?

download the gear setup instructions from randys ring and pinion site.

hopefully you all the littel shims back exactly where they came out right?

if you did, and you can set the pinion preload properly you SHOULD be ok.

.007-.010 With everything new I would go for the .007 because it is going to break-in some and so will the bearings.

Originally posted by ozarkjeep
download the gear setup instructions from randys ring and pinion site.

hopefully you all the littel shims back exactly where they came out right?

if you did, and you can set the pinion preload properly you SHOULD be ok.

I removed a track-lock from the 44 and there were no shims on either side. The spool I bought has a package of shims with it, but it doesn't apprear to need any.

seriously man, dont run it until you do a little more research

it will most likely need some shims.

you prpobably didnt see them becaus eon a dana 44 they are between the bearings and the carrier

youll need ot measure, backlash ( the "play" between pinon and ring teeth, the carrier preload, and the pinion preload.

the backlash is set by using shims to adjust the pinion depth in and out of the axles centerline, and also shims to adjust the carrier it slef side to side.

PLease dont take offense, Im only tryuing to helpo you avoid a costly mistake.

you need to FULLY understand whats invloved, and youll need a dial indicator, a way to mount it to the housing to measure backlash, and an accurate torque wrnch to set the pinion bearing preload.

download those instructions, do some seraching here, then come back with some specific questions when you understand the process.

there is a reason shops get a chuink of $$ for doing this, it isnt as simple as bolting the new parts in

How easy is it to get the spool in and out? If you drop it in and pull it out.....No Good
If you beat it in with a 2lb beadblow hammer and pry it out with 2 prybars....Good

where can i find the download instructions on the site? i've looked but can't locate a link for gear setup instructions?

How can someone who is putting in a spool not have ever read about setting up gears? Seriously though man, read up. There is a great TOTW page on this site that will either scare the hell out of you or really help. Lots of good info out there. Yukon has has a good right up/installation in PDF form. It can be done on your own. I had never done it b4 untill I read and read and read again, got tools and everything else to do it and took my time.
Brett

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=108819&highlight=TOTW
http://www.randysringandpinion.com/downloads/yukoninstman.pdf#search='Yukon%20gear%20install'