I am told that all original 9.25 diff pinion shims were the same size, my dodge dealer lost mine when removing the inner bearing - HELP - how to I find out what the original shim thickness is because replacing the pinion and crown is a major problem without knowing the original?

 

If the dealer lost it, it is their responsibility to fix it, at THEIR expense, not yours.

 

Thanks for the response but that does not answer my question, and they removed the bearing free of charge and do not feel any obligation. Can someone please tell me what the original shim size would have been or if that is not possible for some reason, please tell me what the pinion depth show be - that information has to be available and from there i can buy a depth measuring tool at great expense and make the adjustment with the shim I just installed (30 thou) and STILL have a lot of play - feels like about another 60. When I removed the pinion there was no crushing of the crush sleeve as expected I guess since there was still play in the installed pinion

 

You can download the factory service manual for your truck from here. (grab the 01 version if the 00 isn't there.) All the specs and such will be in there. You will have to measure pinion depth, see where you are at, and adjust from there. All the procedures and such are in the manual.

Welcome to DF!

 

I just did a gear change in my truck a few weeks back. The stock shim on the pinion gear was 0.032". But as hey you said; it's not your responsibility to find one. Even if they lost it, they should be able to set up a set of gears with new shims. If they can't, those technicians should not have jobs. It's not as simple as an oil change but it's not rocket science either.

Edit: I missed your later post in the thread.

- if you still had about 0.060" of back and fourth play then your crush sleeve didn't crush. I know the factory spec is 210 ft. Lbs. but it takes almost 400 ft. Lbs. to begin the initial crush on the sleeve. I actually skipped the sleeve and installed a crush sleeve eliminator. This requires assembling and disassembling the pinion multiple times and torquing the nut to 210 ft. Lbs. each time until the correct bearing preload and drag is achieved. It is quite a pain in the as* but nicer in the end if you have some patience.

 

Thanks but I cannot measure the pinion depth, it is out and the dodge dealer lost the original shim or the pinion did not have one. I bought a new gear set to replace the damaged one but cannot get the bearing to seat properly even with a 30 thou shim, the crush sleeve did not crush because the bearing will not torque on any further - so what gives - is possible my 3/4 1200 lb impact gun is a piece of shiiiiiiii-? what do i do? thanks again, i need more help HOW do i know if the gear centre guys sold me the correct crown and pinion? can i verify the gear numbers online somehow?

 

The large bearing gets pressed on.... (and off.... when you have to change shims....)

What exactly happened to your truck?

 

the dealer have pinion depth gauge tools. they need to measure the pinion depth with these tools to determine the correct shim to use.

going by somone else's set up is asking for problems...what if there is pinion variance in their gearset.
Do you have a zero variance pinion? It can vary +/- 0.008"

 

This is exactly right, you must figure out your shims through trial and error, this is why you paint the teeth on the gears to examine the contact pattern...generally speaking, start with a .020 shim,check pattern then add or subtract .005 at a time until you have the correct pattern.. you may have to disassemble the thing 5 times until you get it right...