Well, you didn't need to do it but you did and now you know so you can undo it!  I am always suspicious when it comes out perfect the first time myself.  When I was woking on one a few years ago a person who had done a lot of the 8.8's said that the gears were very consistent and the variable was the housing.  They said to re-use the same shim or replace with new with the same thickness and it will come out right since the shim was effectively sized to the housing.  I am sure there are a few pinons out there that will vary so it always pays to check.  The carrier shims however need to be set each time for proper bearing preload and pattern but they suggested starting with what came out as a baseline.

Time to button it up!  Make sure to use Ford products for the clutches.  My Explorer started to chatter so a shop drained it and put in a modern gear lube claiming to be compatible with Ford rear ends.  It got worse immediately so I drained out a little and put the stinky Ford stuff in and in only one trip around the block it was as good as new.

Bullet Bob wrote:

GPatrick wrote:

Well, you didn't need to do it but you did and now you know so you can undo it!  I am always suspicious when it comes out perfect the first time myself.  When I was woking on one a few years ago a person who had done a lot of the 8.8's said that the gears were very consistent and the variable was the housing.  They said to re-use the same shim or replace with new with the same thickness and it will come out right since the shim was effectively sized to the housing.  I am sure there are a few pinons out there that will vary so it always pays to check.  The carrier shims however need to be set each time for proper bearing preload and pattern but they suggested starting with what came out as a baseline.

Time to button it up!  Make sure to use Ford products for the clutches.  My Explorer started to chatter so a shop drained it and put in a modern gear lube claiming to be compatible with Ford rear ends.  It got worse immediately so I drained out a little and put the stinky Ford stuff in and in only one trip around the block it was as good as new.

Yep, that whole set up was with the factory pinion and carrier shims that came out of it.  With the new bearings the carrier shims are quite a bit tighter...which is good...but can be driven in without much trouble.
The trac-loc kit is from FRP and came with Ford's stinky finest.  That and two quarts of 75W-140 synthetic and it should be fine.  I soaked the  frictions in lube + stinky over night so that shouldn't be a problem either.

Thanks again for the help and advice.

BB

  
Soooo BulletBob.......are you say'in...."you-made-a-stinky?!"
 

Thank you DC.  That's a confidence builder. I may be able to get it better by opening up the BL a bit.  We'll see.

Mike:  Yes, regularly.  Actually, that stuff stinks so bad that Jean came in the shop yesterday and nearly lost her breakfast.  Guess I'm just used to it...or overpower it.

BB

hmartin025 wrote:

BB, IIRC the sharp edge at bottom of tooth is NOT what you want. The feathered look is what you want
on both sides. Howard

I agree, Howard.  My plan right now is to go back to square one.  That produced a softer pattern that was not quite so deep.  Then I'll play around with a bit more backlash and see if I can move the pattern toward the crown just a touch.
That article that jkordzi posted is really good and explains how to set up the two different types of gears that the 8.8 might have. 

Thanks for the help.  By the time you borrow my alignment tool we'll all be experts.

BB