Re: STRANGE 12 bolt housing VS GEARS
 

You should use a press to install and remove the inner pinion bearing.

You do need to polish the shaft for the outer pinion bearing, but only enough so that it slips on and off, with a little bit of force.

Are you going to use a crush sleeve or spacer to set the preload?

Re: STRANGE 12 bolt housing VS GEARS
 

Using the spacer

Re: STRANGE 12 bolt housing VS GEARS
 

Sometimes with a new part,you have to do a few things. That's how you gain experience. It was a good thing to ask before you damaged something else, in this case, you found it and we all learned something. Thank you for sharing the probable solution with the rest of us.

Re: STRANGE 12 bolt housing VS GEARS
 

Hi,

If you polish the front pinion inner race mounting area be careful....

If you make it an easy slip fit, sometimes the inner race will spin on the pinion shaft and destroy your pinion depth shims.....

Give me a call at 650 922 0407 I have some tricks that you can use....

Bob

Re: STRANGE 12 bolt housing VS GEARS
 

truck 12 bolt gears maybe?

Re: STRANGE 12 bolt housing VS GEARS
 

The Richmond gear is longer than the US Gear. The one on the left is Richmond and the one on the right is US Gear. If I have a choice I would go with the US gear. Looks stronger. http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n...psp1sdoulg.jpg

Re: STRANGE 12 bolt housing VS GEARS
 

One day,decades ago when we both had more hair,I was building a 12 bolt for Tony Janes' Chevelle.He had a brand new out of the box Richmond ring and pinion and a brand new spool.We couldn't get the ring gear on that spool at room temperature for anything. There was an interference fit that was exaggerated by the new parts. I got the wild idea to put the ring gear in the dishwasher, and the spool in the freezer, then we took off for Mexican food at Maria's in Glendora. An hour and a half later, we returned, the ring gear was too hot to touch, so we placed it in the middle of a shop rag on the bench, then the spool came out of the freezer with frost on it.I used some grade 8 3/8 SAE bolts of various lengths to draw the ring onto the spool, and it all went together real nicely.I got all 12 bolts in and started before the frost melted off the spool, so we torqued the final ring gear bolts and finished setting up the rear end. All parts had equalized in temperature quite nicely and we never had an issue with that rear end later.