Weird pattern

[6spdYJ]

I'm slowly rebuilding my 44 on my daily driver. I pretty much bought what the last guy didn't want to tackle... I had to slam it in, a hurry because my 35 died. When I started running it, I found that the pinion nut was loose. It was screaming. I tightened the nut and got to hear the noises under the earlier louder one. I changed the wheel bearings to try to settle down the grumbling. It helped, but then I noticed a clunk when starting forward. I turned the pinion by hand and could feel the backlash take up, then it had a mushy feel for about 1/16th of a turn before the ring gear turned the axle shafts. Next came the carrier bearings. I have almost eliminated the rolling grumble. I'm not really thrilled with the shimming on the carrier. It just flopped in and out with no preload. What I did notice was the weird wear pattern. It should be an oval in the center of the teeth. What I have is a perfectly straight full-contact pattern. It goes all the way across the tooth with no curve at all. The depth looks good. I didn't have funds at the moment for pinion bearings, so they're next. It has a whine, slight compared to any previous noise. Could the whine be from this pattern acting like the noise of a straight cut gear?

[aw12345]

Post a pic of the pattern, in general if the the back lash is ok gears will not whine even though the pattern is not right. As long as you end up with an acceptable pattern it should run quiet and give good service life.
Will post a pic of acceptable patterns later tonight it shows what Yukon gear deems acceptable

For an example here are 3 sets of patterns only number 2 would be acceptable.
From what you are saying you got number1 and to much ring gear run out.

Number1 has the pinion to deep. Number 2 has the correct pinion depth but is not ideal but acceptable, at least that is what Yukon gear claims and that is good enough for me.
Number 3 has the pinion to far away.

Number 1



[URL=http://hotimg23.fotki.com/p/a/76_172/88_38/drive.jpg][/URL
]
number2





number3

[6spdYJ]

Thanks Art, it's tough for me to call it. I had to just swap bearings and get back on the road. Any time I've had a diff apart before, I could see the polished surface in the center of the tooth where the normal pattern hit. This one may have just been goofy due to bad carrier bearings. The depth looked good, but the pattern ran all the way across the tooth. Imajine taking a match book cover and covering the tooth squarely from the tip down toward the body of the ring. This rectangle pattern is what I saw. I was suspicious about the runout, but I didn't have any shims so I just put it back the way it came out. Could still be ratted out pinion bearings. Thank you for your efforts and input.

[6spdYJ]

The best description is on this link http://73-79.com/tech/ford9/ where it says bearing too high.

[aw12345]

yup pinion/bearing to high, which is what I told you.
However since the pinion yoke was loose and nobody knows for how long, that could very well be the reason for it, put some thick paint on the ring gear teeth and turn the ring gear while loosely holding the pinion yoke and see what pattern you get

[6spdYJ]

Could it also be worn pinion bearings? I'm certain the loose nut contributed, but I have no idea how long it was run that way. I don't feel any play by hand but there's no way I can re-create the torque, tension and pressures that my driveline makes.
Would you be conerned about the carrier slipping out and back in? Isn't some degree of preload good to keep the carrier from drifting back and forth?
The good news is that with everything I change, it eliminates the targeted noise. Just uncovers another... The whine I have is very slight. You only hear it with the top on and windows up. On a flat surface, you barely notice it if at all. I'm sure with the top off it wouldn't be noticed. But I know it's there.
I will be doing the pinion bearings as soon as I can, but wanted to get your input. Thanks again for letting me pick your brain.

[aw12345]

You can be pretty sure the pinion being loose also caused the pinion bearing preload shims to get chewed up so go easy on tightening the pinion nut for now just tighten it to the point where you feel a little bit of drag on the pinion when you spin it

[aw12345]