Re: Rear axle questions
The only way you can move the pinion gear forward or aft is to either add a shim between the first bearing and the forward side of the pinion gear, or take a cut on the forward end of the gear, depending on which direction you want to move it
I think you will find that Henry designed the assembly such that the gear contact between the ring & pinion is pretty much in the center and moving the pinion fore and aft is not necessary.
The way to adjust the backlash is to move banjo gaskets left-right. This will move the ring gear in or out away from the pinion gear, which is stationary and straight down the center line of the car. If you don't have the latitude, add shims under the carrier bearings and compensate for it by adding more banjo gaskets. you can even jockey carrier bearing shims left-right to to adjust backlash. It can be a tedious process.
Articles I have read claim that the backlash can be as much as .020. I think that is too much. I believe it should be less than .010. I usually set it around .003 t0 .005. You can measure it with a dial indicator by turning the drive shaft back and forth and feeling for when a tooth on the pinion gear touches either side of two teeth on the ring gear. I don't bother with a dial indicator, I have done enough of them I can tell by feel where the backlash is.
It is important that you do have some backlash, otherwise you will have binding between the gears as the pinion gear teeth will be bottoming out in the ring gear. So when you think you are there rotate the drive shaft to run the ring gear through 360 degrees and stop and check that there is backlash every few degrees.
Tom Endy
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