1971 K10 Stepside - Getting a Roller Roadworthy

[pjmoreland]

This evening I worked on getting the pinion depth and preload set. I settled on .035" on the pinion which is only .002" less than the funky trashed shims that were in there. The drive side would have been better with a thinner shim, but the coast side would be way on the edge of the tooth that way. It feels smooth when rotated.

I installed a solid sleeve on the pinion and got the preload in spec. Took a couple of hours to get it right, but now I will be able to take it apart and put it back together in the future without worrying about messing up a crush sleeve.

I cleaned up and painted the pinion yoke, so installation will have to wait until the paint dries. This is a nice original yoke I had left over from another project. The one that was on this truck had messed up splines and was loose on the pinion. The pinion splines look perfectly fine, and this other yoke fits nice and snugly.

I wouldn't be surprised if the issues with this rear end were what doomed this truck in 2001.