Rearend Blues! (kinda long)

[Jeff Chambers]

Something isn't right, that's for sure. Are you sure that you're getting the bearing cups in straight? Sometimes it can be a pain to get them in straight and get the shims in. If you changed carrier bearings, then the total stackup thicknesses of the shims may need changed just based on the manufacturing tolerances of the bearings, but it shouldn't be that much.

The only other thing that comes to mind is ring gear run out. If the ring gear is warped, or if you bent the ring gear mounting flange on the diff, it might cause some of the problem you describe. Mount the diff so that it will rotate then set a dial indicator up on the back face of the ring gear (perpendicular to the back face of the ring gear). Rotate the ring gear through a full revolution and note the total indicated runout. Eg. if the indicator goes from +.012 to -.005 then you have 0.017" of TIR. The maximum ring gear runout should only be 0.003" to 0.005" max. Anything more and it'll cause uneven wear. Is the ring gear completely seated on the mounting flange? Run a 0.002" feeler gauge between the ring gear and mounting flange all the way around. You shouldn't be able to actually get the feeler gauge to slip between the RG and mounting flange.