Hope Nate or someone can give me their opinion on this: Have just installed Patrick's 3.55 gears and his installation kit on my 1951 1/2 ton. Worked 4 days on this project and wished many times I never started it...lots of trips to buy and rent tools. I spent lots of time on ring gear runout and backlash - especially working with the large carrier bearing preload. Anyway, I finished installing all the new parts and adjusting the best I could. I have taken the truck on two short trips. It runs very well and the new gears make it feel and drive like a new truck. However, when I 'coast' or take my foot off the gas, there is noise...much noise. There is no noise on acceleration or keeping it from coasting. The manual says it could be the pinion bearings too loose. If so, I can readjust the load on the bearing by just taking off the back cover, right? Any suggstions would be appreciated. Am going to give Patrick a call and go over the steps of the installation to make sure I missed nothing next week. Thanks. Penniwinkle
This is why I hate doing rear ends ~ some of them (NOT AD's) have threaded adjusters for the lash , making it far easier . It's been a while but the key is -when- the noise appears ~ you say it's on _coast_ so look in your shop manual and it'll specifically say which gear needs to go which way to alleviate it . Anyone who does these regularly will know and might be talked into re-shimming it (if you're not up to it) for under $150.00.... Did you change the pinion gear shim pack ? usually that's not necessary as pinion depth is set according to the initial manufacture... Did I mention hating this job ? Keep at it , it's not rocket science .
noise Penniwinkle, What type of noise are you getting? It makes a difference on where to look. Also did you do a gear pattern check? The one where you paint the gears and check for the contact patch? Let us know, and we'll see if we can help figur it out......Mike
I would describe the noise as a 'scrubing' type sound..not bearing whine/noise (I remember a similiar noise/problem with a 47 Ford when I was a teenager in the 50s - was determined that it had a bad pinion bearing). It will get louder if coasting in lower gears (the pitch changes when coasting at different speeds). I did check and adjust, the best I could, the 'meshing' of the pinion with the ring gear. The tracking seemed fine to me (I used a white spray grease on the pinion to show the tracking on the ring gear). My shim total was about .036. I have since dropped the back cover and rechecked the backlash and the preload on the carrier bearings....all seems ok as far as I can determine. I think I'm going to have to remove the assemby again and redo the adjustments. Maybe I hosed one of the bearings during assembly. Penniwinkle
