Ring And Pinion Replacement Dana44

I'm in the process of putting a Dana 44 back together. Its been a bit of a process so far; it looks like a pinion bearing failed but the previous owner ran it, till it didn't. The metal particles in the diff ruined the spiders and bearings. The pinion had 1/4 inch of play in/out and side to side, it basically bounced around on the ring gear and both ring and pinion are badly chipped.

The only good news is, that when I opened a spare Dana 44 looking to harvest the spiders a 19 spline power lok fell out instead.

I've ordered a new Ring and Pinion, I've got the case cleaned and painted and when the bearings arrive, I should be ready to start setting this up.

Now for the question, the Pinion depth shims I removed from the carrier measured .035 and I think the pinion was marked -1 (the pinion has led a rough life and isn't overly legible). The new pinion is marked 4.312 (which I believe indicates that it has an offset of 0, this should be the depth of the bottom of the pinion from center line of the carrier).

When I opened the diff up initially, there was indications that I wasn't the first person to do so. I'm not confident that an incorrectly setup pinion didn't lead to the disaster I found.

Is there a stock Shim Stack up recommended? (I didn't find anything in the FSM, just the usual chart for using pinion offset tables). A document from Yukon gear indicates .042 is the starting shim stack.

I do have some parallels that fit between the bearing cap bosses and a depth gauge, I should be able to zero in on the pinion depth. If .042 will put me on the money without having to tear the pinion apart over and over, that would make life simpler.

Thoughts? Should I start with .036 and see where that puts me, or is the .042 truly the best starting point?

 

Start with what came out, adjust for the + or - according to the chart, and go from there. Every gear set is different in how they must be adjusted. There is no magic one size fits all shim pack that works for them all. Only starting point.

 

Having some bearings modified as "set-up bearings" is the best solution. Grind out the inner bores so that they slip on and off, then you can add/subtract shims to set up the clearances to prefection. Then re-assemble with unmodified bearings. The shims that came out of your original diff may get you into the ballpark, but they may also have been the cause of the carnage.
-Donny

 

Wanted to post a quick follow up, unexpectedly I found myself with some free time and 90% of the parts I needed to to install the new Ring and Pinion.

I'm still waiting on the yoke and axle seals, but I stacked up some old bearing races in its place to pre-load the pinion bearings.

I installed the pinion depth shim stack as close as possible to what I removed and used the same shim stack-up for the pinion pre-load.

Tossed the carrier and once I got the backlash between .007 and .008 I ran a pattern, I apologize as I didn't have marking compound, but threw some anti seize at the problem, I think the pattern is mostly legible.

My Drive pattern:



My Coast Pattern



My only minor concern is it looks like my drive pattern could be a hair deeper on the tooth, which if I understand the concept correctly, indicates a slightly deeper pinion depth. I'm somewhat hesitant to pull this all apart and try and remove and re-install the inner pinion race.
My gut says run it, but looking for any feedback from those who've already been done this path.

On a side note; the gear set was ordered from Elite Gear out of Michigan, wasn't sure what to expect. They were one of the few places that offered a thick 5.38, the parts went together smoothly and fit up really well. At no point was I looking for the BFH to fit parts.

 

Your pattern looks pretty good. I'd say run it. Just clean out as much anti-sieze as you can. Grease works OK for checking pattern.
-Donny

 

Anti-seize has metal particles in it. Get that stuff thoroughly flushed out before installing cover or running it. Be careful not to flush it into the bearings. Grease, Prussian Blue, even oil based artists paint can be used. Just clean it out before it dries. Gear marking compound is the best choice though. Rushing a diff setup is one of the major reasons for failure I’ve found. People lose patience, take shortcuts, the poor results follow. Patience is paramount.

 

looks perfect for used gears . could not get it better.

 

I still have work to do on the final setup. This pattern was run with my setup bearings, I don't have a bearing puller that can remove the bearings (in one piece) from the power lok carrier. I was able to modify a 2 arm puller for the stock open carrier, but there isn't enough under cut between the powerlok housing and the bearing to slip the puller fingers in, I'm afraid to grind the puller arms for clearance as its offshore special and probably needs all the meat in the casting to function.

I still need a hair more pre-load on the carrier bearings, I'm guessing the fit currently is pretty close, maybe an extra .001 or .002 of pre-load right now. A single tap from the dead blow will set the carrier bearings in the housing. When I have the carrier out to add shims for pre-load and press the final bearings on, I will be sure to clean the ring with some brake kleen.

I was also going to pull the pinion and add some petroleum jelly to the pinion bearings and carrier bearings for startup. When I have the pinion out it too will have a bath in the Brake kleen.

Thanks for the advice so far.