cool thx zuk! after thinking about it last night i decide that the way im "pressing" the pinion into the housing might be causing the collar to bind up on the pinion. i generally use a sacrifical pinion nut that i use to pull the pinion up through the bearing with the flange on it. my diff holder tool holds it sideways and i think when i hit the nut with the impact gun the collar tries to come off and then binds up when tightening down. im going to try modifying my diff holder to allow me to do it verticaly and see how that fares. worse case i may yank that oil retainer out and just keep the axle slightly over filled with a good synthetic lube.

also this was my 1st v6 pinion bearing experience.... what a *****! i broke 2 harbor freight large seperators befor i called randys, they have that expensive tool kit for $430 that i really want but i saw on your site that you said it wont work on the v6 pinon. he said that they used to use a harbor freight seperator and they just clearence it to allow it to get under the bearing better, i took the one i have broken earlier and ground it down a bit and all be damned if it popped that rascal off with no damage. where did you get that clamshell you have? id like to buy one or have one similar made at the machine shop.