Hello to all in this forum, Im in desperate need on some knowledge about how to set the pinion depth and the carrier backlash. Last week I took apart my 03 Silverado 4x4 differential and replaced all of the seals, bearings, and races. I have tried to contact various shops about getting them to set it up for me and either they don't want to even mess with the headache of setting it up or they want to charge $800+ for the finishing touches. I have took it upon myself to buy the pinion depth tool for $600 and do the work myself and gain the knowledge and skills to do this properly.

Now for the real question I have at hand. I seen some videos and have seen that they have a starting point that is marked on the pinion head to find out what size shim is needed to be put on for correct pinion depth. I seen that most of them has is scribed on there with a machine, but on my pinion head it looks like is is from the form of the cast that made it. I was wondering if that was the correct starting number to start with or do I need to measure the pinion length to find out. I will link picture to the post so y'all can see what I'm talking about.

Please let me know about any info that I might need to help ease the process and any thats is useful. thank y'all and have a nice day.

 

First, front or rear differential? Are you replacing the ring and pinion or just using the old one? What series is your truck 1500, 2500HD or?

To use the markings on the some pinions, there is a +/- number. If no one has screwed with the axle, you look at the number on the original and add or subtract the difference from the number on the new pinion and add or subtract from the pinion shim. Aftermarket pinions sometimes have the distance from the center of the carrier bearings to the pinion. The one in your picture, the 11X (can't read it) is the number of teeth on the pinion, 11, and the number of teeth on the ring. A common carrier bearing OD is 3.062" Divide the OD by 2 to get the center, 1.531" So the 1629 number is not distance from the center of the carrier bearings. Might be a part number??

Not much help, sorry. Have you watched ?

What I do when all fails is use the original pinion shim, then check the pattern. Tedious at best, but it works. Do you understand the preloads? You get the carrier preload first, only needed if someone lost or screwed up the carrier shims, then remove the carrier and get the pinion preload. Setting up axles is more difficult than most think it is...

Al in Tucson