Setting bearing preload (F5M33)

[stealthee]

Okay, now that I look at it I see what you mean. I may run the input shaft a little tight since I have experienced so many trans problems over the years. It can't hurt at this point.

I measured around about .047" on the crushed solder for the diff. That means I need a spacer of around .049" to .051" to meet the proper preload of .002-.004"?

Can I stack spacers if I don't have the right thickness on hand? Or is that a bad idea?

[RealMcCoy]

Stacking is no problem... The only thing I don't like to do if I can avoid it, is using shims that are extremely thin and could wad up if a race spins. For example .025+.020 is better than .040+.005

[stealthee]

Right.

Well race spinning is one of the problems I am running into at the moment. A few of the races Dave sent me are a little too loose in my case and keep falling off before I can get the case seated. The solder is falling out in the process and I just lost a piece in one of the roller bearings. It literally fell between two rollers as I was trying to snag it.

I assume it is soft enough that it won't cause any harm?

I'm getting really frustrated at this thing. Every time I think I have it going on good it gets stuck on the shift rails and I have to give it a tap which makes the races fall out, which makes the solder fall out. If it keeps fighting me I am going to throw the damn thing across the yard.

[RealMcCoy]

Falling out is much better than having to break out the puller to swap shims... a little grease will usually hold them in pretty well while you assemble it.

[stealthee]

I didn't even think about grease. I think the lack of thought process is coming down to exhaustion as well as frustration.

Regardless I got some measurements.

input 1.02mm (.040")
output 1.27mm (.050")
intermediate 0.95mm (.0375")
differential 1.21mm (.0470")

I think I am going to take my measurements one more time to be sure. As you can see I didn't get much crush out of the output shaft so I want to just verify all my numbers are correct. Assuming they are correct I should run the following:

input 1.01 (.0398) shim to get a tight fit for endplay
output 1.34 (.0527)
intermediate 1.04 (.0409)
differential 1.28 (.0504)

Technically the FSM doesn't list a shim that thick for the diff, but I could use an output shaft shim if my measurements are indeed correct.

[stealthee]

After redoing my measurements, and using grease to hold the damn races I got some new readings

input 1.07mm (.0420)
output .95mm (.0375")
intermediate .89mm (.0350")
differential 1.01mm (.040")

As you can see the measurements are a little different than what I first got, but this time the solder seemed to be much more consistent in thickness.

Based on these measurements it looks like my shims should be

input 1.07 (.0421) for no free play or 1.04 (.0409) for .03 of free play
output 1.01 (.0398)
intermediate 0.98 (.0386)
differential 1.07 (.0421) or a 1.10 (.0433)

Please let me know if my numbers look okay.

Thanks for all the help guys.

[RealMcCoy]

Looks like you got it worked out... Personally I wouldn't be afraid of a little more preload, but as long as it's in spec, I don't think they're all that fussy. Are they new bearings or good used bearings? I usually give new bearings a couple thou more preload than used...

[stealthee]

All new bearings. If you recommend a little more preload then I'll go that route. I'll probably have to order shims, but that's not a big deal.

In the morning I'll do the math and look at the list of shims and figure out what I should go with.

Thanks again Larry. You're the man as usual.

[stealthee]

input 1.07 (.0421) Gives me little to no free play
output 1.07 (.0421) Gives me .12mm (.0046") preload
intermediate 1.01 (.0398) Gives me .12mm (.0048") preload
differential 1.13 (.0445) Gives me .12mm (.0045") preload

If that looks better to you on fresh bearings then looks like I will need: (2) MD720945, MD724149, MD700270