ok, i have an e locker im attempting to set up with a set of yukon 5.29's and a solid collar pinion sleeve from randys. the problem im having is getting the pbpl set correctly or even halfway close. ive tried about every shim combo. what happens is i get really tight preload on what seems like the outer (small) pinion bearing to where the pinion feels like it has way more preload than it should but on the inner (large) bearing you can see its loose as can be , you can actually turn the bearing cage with your finnger but you can barely turn the companion flange with your hand. i tried adding shim after shim but i couldnt get it right.

what im thinking is their might be an issue with the oil retainer as ive seen discussed vaguely on zuk's site. would it be safe to run a low pinion e locker without the retainer? also i am not for sure but i think the gear set is a v6 gear set but im wondering if its a 4 cyl... i used the factory .078" shim but i didnt measure the pinion head. to verify. i was tired and gave up on it tonight but if anybody has any tips , numbers or anything that might be of use let me know.... ive set up several 4cyl 3rds but this is a different animal....

Ya...the oil retainer is likely scraping the collar. You can probably get away with leaving it out and problem solved. You can also try 'clearancing it' somehow.
A pattern check will make it real obvious if you have the V6 or 4 cyl gears....but a V6 one has a long pinion head of about 1.666" and the 4 cyl version is 1.530 abouts.
ZUK

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.

For pinion bearings you need one of these bad boys....
http://www.mechanicstoolsupply.com/...bcatID_E_212_A_catID_E_32_A_brandID_E_22

they have went up a little in price since I bought one....119 plus shipping is the best price I could find with a quick google.

where did you get this one? is it in that kit you have?



i have one i got from northern tool like the one you mentioned above but its the one i use for all my 4cyl bearings.

My dad made up that one....it finally busted and went to bearing puller heaven. It was the last of it's kind.

Bearing separators/splitters are not all the same....the expensive one I mentioned above has the ability to grab the inner pinion bearings with no issues....yet. I use it 98% of the time and use the $430 puller from Randys for the other 2%.

ah, i see. i thought about having one made like that out of some stainless or something really hard like chromoly or something but if that one you mentioned above is the ticket ill go ahead and order one. thanks again