[Ed in Maine]

Last summer I went thru the process of rebuilding the rear end because of a ring gear failure. Please see Tom Endy's rebuild paper. It is absolutely essential that you use it. In your case, I think the preload was incorrect This is a very difficult adjustment to make. There are two nuts at the pinion bearing. The inside nut adjusts the preload and the outside nut is a locking, jam nut. What I found while making this adjustment is that you have to set the preload very light with the inner nut because when you tighten the jam nut it increases the preload on the pinion bearings. Why? I can't tell you, its just happens. I would find that I liked the preload that I had with the inner nut but after tightening the outer locking nut, the drive shaft was too tight!

Rebuilding a rear end is not for sissies! It took me 6 weeks working alone and over $500.00 of parts. You never want to take a rear end apart for an oil leak. Torque the bolts to 35 ft-lb. and hope for the best. Ed