space or no space between pinion snubber and diff?
 

i've heard to do it both ways, so i'd like to hear some cases for each. intuition says that i would want the pinion snubber to be touching the differential to relieve stress from the front mount immediately, because if the space between the two is greater than the max amount of flex in the mount, then it does no good. and the mount i installed (a used competition one) did not seem to flex much at all. any opinions?

Generally, the less movement the better.

You can even pre-load it a little.

thanks for the suggestion. i'm assuming that means that the ps is applying a little downward pressure on the differential under a no-load situation? i think i'll do that. not too much, but enough to cancel out some of the flex in the ps. thanks.

(The only reason for clearance would be in an old school solid axle.)

Is there any disadvantage with a pinion snubber?

a little off topic. Does a snubber replace the forward diffmount, or does it help enforce the diff mount?

it helps enforce it. the pinion snubber only keeps the differential from moving upwards, the mount prevents all movement. i don't know if anybody uses one in place of the mount, but it's not designed that way.

i installed it last weekend with a little over 1/8th inch of preload. i really haven't noticed anything like whether or not it helps reduce wheel hop, because i haven't driven much since then. there seems to be a bit more vibration coming from the rear of the car, but that might just be my imagination.

No space is better.
If there is space, it could make a *thud* noise everytime it contacts!


-Ted