Great video. I could see exactly where you were going with your strategy from the start. You were able to find the pinion depth, to axle center point, using a straight edge and caliper. Two affordable and generally useful tools. WELL DONE! The more common method is to use a setup bearing and trial and error. That can be VERY tedious and time consuming. This gives you the best shot at one and done and who doesn't want that? Thank you for posting this.

Nice job. The biggest thing for me is being ‘self taught’ mostly because any possible instruction in my past has been trial-and-error mechanics that act like it’s a secret black art because they can’t explain what they are doing or measure it. I’ve done a few diffs but knew just enough to get it right and understand why. But great video that affirms my knowledge and taught me a coupla things. Between this and metalshaper’s vids I feel like the next one I do (Dana 30 of my own) I will know exactly what I’m doing and why, and you just saved me $800 :) I actually found this video because I realized it’s just numbers and I thought it likely there was something like this method which would work. So you saved me a bunch of money AND saved me from reinventing the wheel.

Finally a video that makes sense to me about a differential set up! Thank you for sharing this information! I’m going to watch your other ones as well.

Great video. Simple in lay man terms. I am about to attempt my first differential rebuild. Need to get a straight edge and build cradle to hold the entire axle housing. Doing my homework in the mean time with videos like this. Thank you sir.

This was a great video. At work, I don’t really go this in depth into a differential. This made me feel like I was doing the measurements with him. Great stuff

I can tell you are a wealth of knowledge. It's evident that you care a lot to share your knowledge and for that I salute you. Tradesmen like yourself, craftsmen if I may call you that, as I hold that term dearly... are few and far between. Please keep up the good work and trust that if even 10% of what you share for us young bucks falls upon useful ears.... you will have succeeded in your endeavor. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time and caring enough to share your hard earned wisdom. Subscribed for certain.

I wanted to thank you for your video. I is my first time doing a rear end rebuild and you made it almost easy! Lol. Thank you for what you do!

Thanks for the time/money saving tips. Very easy to understand!

Highly informative, spot on!

Game changer. Thank you for posting this video.

Super simple,thanks so much ,takes the fear of the unknown

great video thats the way i was taught in 1978, thank you

Great video, old school method , thanks .

Awesome video thanks for taking the time

Great video! Very easy to understand.

Thanks for the detailed video

Thank You for making this video. I'm a machinist too so this way is way easier than making my own centering jig. However, I just bought a set of yukon gears, and USA Standard gears, and they both do not come with pinion depth markings. They strongly recommend using the existing pinion shim and starting from there. Shoot, that's what I would've done anyway before buying Chinese depth mics and $20 highspeed tool bits as my straight edge lol.

Just my Pinion, but this is an awesome video. Thanks Tod😊

Thanks for sharing , going with my grandson !!!

Good video, thanks for sharing. I make test bearings, I use the honing machine. In my case I have an LBB1699 Sunnen. You can save the bearing for the next time. This is an absolute must on Dana's. Good idea for someone that does not have a pinion depth setting fixture. Thanks for sharing. Just subscribed. Take care, Ed.

Thanks for such an interesting video i want to learn how to fix ring n pinion when differential goes bad👍

Great Video For Me! I can set-up my GM10 rear end, and combine with the listed guide on Google, I can precisely figure the measurements. Thanks a bunch!

Great video Tod! I appreciate you sharing your knowledge with us less learned in the ways of setting gears. This is exactly what I've been looking for as I will be attempting a regearing of a Dana 44 for my son's Cherokee in the coming months. AND, it is not too much math! Actually, right in my wheelhouse. I had a spreadsheet put together before the video ended. Now all that I have to do is "plug and chug" the numbers. I do not have the new ring and pinion set yet which leaves me with a question for you. What is the significance of the plus or minus number that is on the face of the replacement pinion gear? For example, if it marked with a +2, I assume that represents .002 of a difference from the factory original, but how is that applied to the Mounting Distance? Or is it applied to the Checking Distance? Thanks!

Great video. Thank you. Good information.

The technique and information is there however the videography could have been better and some dead time could have been edited out. You explained why you used the digital caliper however it should be noted that for depth measurements with a caliper it is extremely difficult to be really accurate and it only takes a few thousandth of an inch to throw the pinion depth out of wack. Additionally I would not recommend prying up on a gear tooth unless your planing on replacing the ring gear.

Beast...yeah it can be difficult to comprehend...but review it a few times....great explanation

Thanks good information and no music

On many GM rears, especially 12 bolts and possibly other makes of rears, you can often using a Dana type shim under the bearing cup in the housing, rather than pulling the pinion bearing. On a 12 bolt Chevy, usually more gear requires a thicker pinion gear shim. If you start with the original thickness and end up needing more shim, you can knock loose the bearing cup from the housing and add a Dana style shin and avoid pulling the pinion gear bearing.

Love the shirt

Instead of using the cover face, which isn't machined with the same tool, i use the bearing cap surfaces, which are the actual center of axle rotation.

Chevy 10 Bolt. Pinion shaft in the freezer bearing in the Oven 350 degrees. Added my shims when the pinion shaft came out of the freezer and dropped my bearing slam dunk right down on the shaft ! No press needed!

I have an 04 dodge ram 1500 the rear differential blended up and it’s just bad you are going to help me re build it thank you for your help now I don’t need to buy fancy tools

Hi Tod, Nice overview. I use similar methods, with one change- curious about your thoughts. I have always used the side bearing cap mating surface as an axle centerline reference. One reason being, the bearing race could shift slightly with the cap removed and give a false reading. Another, its simpler. The in the shown description also- while explaining a method for bearing replacement, over looks some aspects if replacing gears. I have found that even with some well-known brand name gears, the pinion nose isn't very flat or lacks a machined spot to reference for setting depth to the gear manufacturers specification. This leads to a lot of variation, depending on the spot used for measuring. So I have sometimes found the gear pattern to be a less than desirable result and/or mildly noisy setups. Another thing I have found, again- even with well-known brands, backlash can vary excessively in different checking locations. Runout on the carrier is acceptable, and relocating the ring gear to different positions doesn't fix it. I have usually tried to find a reasonable compromise, where the lash is slightly tight in the tightest spot, and slightly loose in the loosest spot. "as good as its gonna get"

12:10 weird flex but ok, don’t have to come at me personally like that… 😂

Great vid. Thank you. If you are only doing bearings and not messing with carrier internals, can you reuse your crush sleeve? I get mixed responses to that question. I will be doing this on jack stands in the garage, so trying to minimize this. I have this exact rear end in the video. Thanks

If you test mount the pinion using the old bearing that you’ve sanded or ground down to measure pinion depth do you NOT use the crush washer for the test install? Also would you still torque it to spec? I am assuming you would have to. Thanks

⭕️👍thank you for this information good sir

Thank you for the video. Question- you have nominal (3.125) listed on the diagram at the beginning. However your measurement Is less. So is mine. Where did you get that nominal measurement?

Very very good video, thanks for posting it. My only question is, does this procedure assume that your pinion depth is set correctly to begin with? Thanks very much again for this video.

thx . nice explain good tip esy to doo

That stem at your left hand is the part that you use to measure that depth

Got it. Would have helped to have shown the figures and the math. Great setup for spreadsheet. Just watched another video that used a $500 tool. I like your better.

Yes indeed babe . Life is a marathon, not a sprint . That’s old school there !

Great video I'm about to dive into this for the first time on a gm 12 bolt posi thats still mounted in the car, not looking foward to popping the carrier in an out 20 times, sucks this pinion didn't have a # on the face or any other markings cause I would have liked to see how that matched up or how you did the math using a calibration tool. My thought is just to mount a square plate where the carrier bolts up then just measure to the face of the pinion, seems it takes a bunch of math an room for error right off the table. Is the # on the face of the pinion the depth from the face of the pinion to the center of the carrier itnis from the back of the spacer behind the pinion to the center of the carrier?

The whole objective here is to set the pinion depth without having to install the carrier in and out 5 times. Am I right ?

Many pinions are not machined on the face you were referencing so it is dangerous to measure from there. If you are putting back the same parts no gears no problem but if there is a change you could wind up with it incorrect.

Does this same process work on a Ford 8 inch on 69 Mustang?

When I use this information to try to gauge my pinion depth, I'm getting some strange numbers. Based on what I've measured and calculated, I should be using 0.158 of shims. Does that seem unusual? That's the factory shim, plus nearly every shim that came in the kit I got. If I install that many shims, I can't get any backlash at all. So obviously I'm doing something wrong. I just don't know what. My pinion has the number 092 written on it. The ring has a D22092 on it. I'm assuming my mounting depth then is 5.092? The pinion is 1.99 without a shim, the center of my axle is 2.44 from the surface of my diff housing. Thanks

Just remember this will only work if you are replacing that ring and pinion with the exact same gear ratio ring and pinion. If you're changing to like a 456 gear you need to know pinion depth from the gear manufacturer

That's all fine and dandy how your doing that but the pinion depth is pretty critical and all those measurements your taking off of different surface's your liable to be off a few thousands. Also if the rear-end has been worked on before who knows if it was set up right to begin with. That rear-end did not come out of a ram 1500. It's a Dana 60. They never installed them on a 1/2 ton ram. 3.125 is the pinion depth on a 60. Just get the right tools for the job instead of cobbling something together. Setting up axle gears right is pretty important if you want them to last. Especially if you using it to off road or pulling.

I need some information about gear petrron

#Roger

I feel like your Making a little extra work for yourself in calculations. Lay bar across, measure down to bearing cap mounting surface. Zero your caliper and directly measure pinion depth. I've had great success doing it this way for years.

Correction pinion shaft in the freezer!!!

A lot of these measurments are set in manufacture, why complicate this task. the only size needed is the depth to the pinion. Why not use the vernier with the depth guage, instead of the jaws?

You don't need the tool for the dana 70 95 dodge 2500 8.0

Hello sir how are you

Borrow or rent a pinion depth gauge setup, you you will get a first time proper measurement. Use this method if you can send yourself back in time with a time machine ( preferably model- T auto years ).

way too much struggle pulling the ring gear assy. all he had to do was reach around and rotate the pinion..

Why bother taking a measurement of the old pinion if you're installing a new pinion?

Way to much math and confusing. Backlash and patterning is all you need.

Way too much math.measure from bearing centerline to face of pinion gear, that's the pinion depth. Bearing centerline is the flat surface where the bearing cap mounts.