Thank you. This helped me not destroy my bearing to re-shim the pinion during a set up. Got lucky & picked the right shim the first time. (There was no 'old shim to transfer, so I started with no shim.)

When I was a Ford tech I went to the Ford school in St Louis and there they had a puller especially designed for pulling Timken bearings. Worked really well but probably cost a small fortune.

I did it with that, I think it's called a clamshell type of puller and had access to a 40 ton hydraulic press and initially I couldn't catch the inner race and had to start off by pressing on the cage of the bearing and then repositioning the puller when I got a slight amount of clearance to grab the inner race of the bearing and I was planning on replacing that bearing anyway, anytime I have to use a press to pull off a bearing, I don't trust reusing it. But I started out trying the pinion with the existing shim that had been on there and thinking it would give me the right pattern once again with the different carrier and it didn't work out that way, so I had to press off that bearing and then I made a test bearing out of it And kept trying until I got it right. ultimately I put that together (a Ford 8.8 373) without any shim under the bearing and the pattern seem to look good, the preload I put on it wasn't quite enough however 14 to 18 was one spec and I put 17 inch pounds, in a few miles I had end- play on the pinion and I had to put more inch pounds on around 28, which changed the position of the pinion to the ring gear and that's why I had to readjust the backlash and I should have readjusted the pinion depth first but I didn't, I used it as it was and it's still going but it does make a little noise when I accelerate and goes away when I coast at freeway speeds. Total I've got less than 10,000 miles on it now and that includes some 200 mi plus round trips. Time will tell, of course I should have taken it completely back down pressed off that bearing& try to shim a little bit thinner than what had been on there and rechecked it, but I didn't have the time and I couldn't tie up that facility with the hoist for that long .

Always make a mock up bearing from your old one. Saves so much headache for setting up pinion depth

setup bearings are the best to have, but you made it work.

A little trick is to get it started on the clam shell puller, then tighten the nuts up. Put the puller on edge and smack it with a hammer, that way you drive the puller jaws a little deeper and wedge the bearing away from the shaft. Retighten the nuts and pull it off as normal.

Thanks a lot for this video. Very useful for me.

Looks good. Great how to video!

Looks like big wasn't fully seated at start of video, usually impossible to see shim until big removed, usually put same size shim when replacing brgs or ring and pinion (40 years of doing these , never adjusted shim) only needed to adjust shim size if changing housing. A high end pulley/ jaws does a better job than princess autu/ Harbour freight quality setup. Set pinion on 4 x 4 block not on teeth if using chisel, less likely to damage teeth.

I there a video where you put it back on? Great video. 👍

gonna try this. hope it works

Why on Earth would you not show the actual chisel method instead of just showing us before and after? I certainly understand how you did it but I would love to actually see it.

A Little heat goes a Long Way to help get them Off. Won't hurt the bearing either.

I just did a gear change on a Ford 8.8. Instead of messing with this shim, I just stuck a larger carrier bearing shim under the outer race. I'm not sure if it'll cause problems but I'm trying it since it's much easier getting that race in and out vs that bearing on, and off the pinion. Have you ever tried this by chance?

Not really hackish. Tip - Ream the inside diameter of an old bearing so it is a slip fit and use it for set-up...when satisfied, then press the new bearing on. Btw, a 12-bolt Chevy uses the same bearing as a 8.8 Ford.

Remove cage and bearings. Make a cut line with a cutter on remaining inner race. Chisel and snap in half. Voila.

Should have made some set up bearing.