Gear contact pattern

[Voss]

Installing a new set of Nitro 3.23 gears in my 742 rearend. I have set the backlash to .009 and the pinion bearing preload to 20 in lbs. I had to work out the proper pinion depth with trial and error since I don't have a good pinion depth setting tool. I found that Ratech sells a pinion setting tool, only $29. I thought I would order one and give it a try, could be useful for future projects.

Attached two pics of the contact pattern taken at light load (I put load on the diff with my hand). I think it looks pretty ok but I'm not a gear expert so I hope someone can chime in and give me an opinion.

[c00nhunterjoe]

1st pic looks good, 2nd looks off but thats probably an illusion in the picture.

[Voss]

1st pic looks good, 2nd looks off but thats probably an illusion in the picture.

Thanks for the input! Back here, we are thinking the pattern and mesh could be slightly deeper... We will work more on this tomorrow. I'll post an update and new pics then! Would be great with real reference patterns...

[c00nhunterjoe]

The 1st pic, the pattern doesnt look consistant to me so before changing anything, i would reswipe with more pressure and consistant motion. A 2nd set of hands would help