I am in the process of putting my RD36 ARB into the axle from a 1999 F350. My questions start around page 10 of the manual... where we are measureing for the shims. At one point they want me to measure the distance from the shim surface over to the ring gear mounting surface of the ARB. Doesn't ARB know this measurement?

A: Distance from bearing shoulder to ring gear mounting face of old carrier
B: thickness of shim pack from old carrier
C: Distance from bearing shoulder to ring gear mounting face of ARB

Anyway, here are my measurements: A = 1.2505, B = .0623, C = 1.2280

So, I get a new shim pack thickness of A+B-C = .0848"

Do these sound pretty close to what you guys have seen?

Tracy

it's a good guess, and I'd probably start around there, but be prepared to take the pinion shims and the carrier shims off several times to get the pattern right. When I set mine up I usually took the numbers into consideration, but used setup bearings and would normally run several patterns before picking the one I want. You set the ring and pinion up on an arb the same way you set all the other ring and pinions up.

As the axle was just rebuilt with new bearings and professionally set up, I have not removed the pinion, and dont want to. Hopefully, it will be fine.

I just got the carrier in with the calculated .084" shim pack on the left, only the master shim on the right, and there is no backlash whatsoever. I also cant move it side to side.

So, I guess that means the .084" is too much, need to remove a little...

One thing that will help is I just borrowed a case spreader! Hahoo, I am uptown!

The reason they wanted you to measure their carrier was probably because there is a casing split. Its usually between 4.10 and 4.56 on most cases, and prbably the same on the ARB. If you didn't move the pinion all you need to do is put the carrier back at the exact same b/l measurement it had before you removed it, and make sure it has adequate carrier bearing preload. Since you have zero b/l and no movement in the carrier, I would say add .015" shim opposite the ring gear, use the spreader to install the carrier, and then check the b/l. Do not spread the carrier more than .015" to install the carrier.