STRANGE 12 bolt housing VS GEARS

[Greg Reimer 7376]

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.