Just a quick update. I've been recovering from minor eye surgery - nothing major but can be annoying when trying to see. Was nothing planned but right around Christmas time, made it that much more difficult. I'm well on the road to 100% so no worries there.

Most of the time, I've been searching for bolts. As much as it is important to use new bolts, I'm utterly shocked at the difficulty of obtaining them.

Our specs are 7/16" x 20 x .880 UTH (under the head) flange head LHT (left hand thread)

ARP doesn't make a specific bolt for this rear. They've suggested an alternative but the kit only comes with 10. 230-3002 which is for a GM rear. Kind of pricey, too. Seen $70-$75 for 10, then another $8.44/each. from ARP direct, PN: P10AP.850-1LH.

These are 7/16" x 20 .850 UTH LHT

NOTE: Contrary to SummitRacing's listing, 240-3001 WILL NOT WORK.

Mopar Performance USED to make P4529487 which is a Ring Gear bolt kit for less than $10! This kit has been discontinued since and is VERY difficult to find. Don't bother with Chicago Connection for these, even though their site says 2 left and was ready to bite the bullet, I finally was able to get a hold of them over the phone and they do not have any more in stock. Most places that claim to have this kit, say they'll ship out 1/5. But nowhere do they state whether that kit is LHT - just a matter of assumption if it's for a 9.25 rear.

I'm going to start working on the truck Wednesday afternoon, Thursday sometime and will need the bolts by then. Using the parts manual, thanks to weedahoe, called the local dealer here and asked about 06036054AA. Even though they're still pricey, at $6.35 each, beats $8.44 each from ARP and is guaranteed to work. I'll be heading up to the dealer this afternoon to place and order as they should be in next day. At that price, they better be.

So, I've come to my decision ... ending up deciding to use NEW OEM bolts on the ring gear ... I tell ya, ARP would make a killing if they made a kit specifically for our rears at a decent price point ($40-$50).

 

Oh, I must admit .. I've contemplated buying like 6 new bolts and reuse 6 old ones, interchanging them around the ring gear. Might work fine, but for piece of mind, I'll spend the extra $40 or so. Who knows what stresses the older bolts might have and the potential for a bolt snapping is that much higher. Don't need to be worrying about that ... $40 is more than worth it to me.

 

One more thing. The ring gear bolts that came with my Motive Gear master install kit, were a tad smaller in diameter than the stock gear bolts. Plus, one of them was a tad long in one spot. That pic I took of the stripped bolt was most likely caused by the bolt bottoming out and with the thread shaft being slightly smaller, easily stripped under higher torque. I measured .435" on the stock bolt and .420" on the MG - which is kind of close to 7/16 but not quite.

 

Here are test runs.

0.032 shim (stock)





Seems a bit on the shallow side.

 

0.035 shim





This one seems a bit better.

 

0.037 shim





A tad much on the flank side, I think.

 

I'll follow up with more pics of the progress, right now just trying to get the test pattern right. Seems to fit the bill going 0.035. The numbers on the head of the pinion stated 2.375 and I measured 2.378 with the stock shim of 0.032 ... going 0.035 makes the most sense to me. Just trying out several measurements before pressing. Test bearings, although a little bit of trial and error, make it much more easier to try new shim measurements. The test patterns are what tells you what you really have.

 

Yea 0.035 does look the best of those, but I've never set up gears I'm just going from the patterns shown in the manual and comparing them to yours. Keep us updated.

 

Here's what I had to do to get the shaft in

 

done. test drove the truck and tried to keep off of the gas but dang, this thing seems like a whole new truck!