Ya I'd have a tough time trusting a precision measuring device for that price.. .

 

I haven't had any problems with cheaper off eBay, they're usually within spec, just check them with a set of calipers and if they're off you just factor that into your measurements

 

Not to mention that one still looks new, even though it is listed as used. Likely someone needed it..... once..... and is now selling it, to get some money back.

 

So I'm still working on setting up the rear diff .Lots of trial and error but I made some setup bearings so it's easy to swap out pinion shims. Things I'm learning though is that setting up a used gearset is much less of an exact science than a new one. Basically I'm going to be ignoring what the drive side of the gear is telling me and just going off the coast side, since it has less wear.

This means I'm just setting pinion depth based on how centered the coast pattern is between the root and face. Wherever it ends up between the heel and toe is just where it ends up, and can be tweaked slightly with backlash, but for the most part it is what it is due to the wear on the gearset.

I think if I do one more setup at about 32 thou, it'll be bang on, which unfortunately is what I started at, but since I was also trying to read the drive side off the start it took me on a wild goose chase of adding more shim which just kept getting uglier and uglier.

After doing it a few times I'm getting pretty quick and swapping the carrier in and out. Still will be nice to be done and not have to screw around with this anymore.

Just needs a bit more pinion shim


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And a bit less backlash methinks. Contact pattern is too far out on the gear teeth.

 

Yes that attempt was at 0.010 backlash which is quite alot, but I wasn't really focused to much on backlash at that point, as it was all going to come apart again right away.

The final setup was with 0.031 of pinion shim, and 0.006 backlash, which gave a better pattern, lowered a bit more off the top of the tooth, and more towards the heal and spread out more along the tooth. I was so Happy to get it done though I didn't take a picture.

Machine shop got back to me. My crank and block are good as is, no machining required. Pistons were already 0.030 oversized and crank main/rods were 0.010 undersized, from the last time it was rebuilt. Time to get bearings on order, they are going to hone it, clean it up and install cam bearings for me and I'll take it from there.