It sure is incredible though. Easy is for the weak.

 

Was rebuilding the Ford diff last night and forgot a shim on the pinion, which meant I had to pull the bearing off - wrecking the bearing. New bearing incoming.

 

that shim sets the pinion depth... so you'll need to take it on and off until you get it right.

most people use a crappy/used bearing and grind down the ID of the bearing so it just slips on so they can test with it.


or you can get a setup like this which relocates the shim to the other side.
Severe Duty Pinion Shims

 

You can also get a solid pinion spacer from Ratech. It makes changing a pinion seal a snap if you ever have to. You never have to deal with the crush sleeve.

 

Well the Surtrack (SURTRACK FD8170) Ford axles I ordered don't work for this. The bear is a red one too small to fit the Ronin axles. Very annoying since I had to take these new axles apart to figure that out.

 

I would order used OE axles on eBay.

 

Yeah looking for used OEM now.


Meanwhile, the Miata, with 40k miles, needs a rear wheel bearing. This job sucked.

My version of fuller house

 

I did a thing






17x10 +25 offset. Needs a spacer to clear the springs in the front.

 

That'll work! What do you need about 15mm or so?

 

Yeah, going to order up 4 spacers and longer wheel studs too

 

I hate doing that.. The ARP 3.25 studs are $32 a side.

 

that's what I have for my street wheels

but their +35s... with 315s on them lol.

I'm running 30mm spacers on front and 20mm on the back and it's pretty close... (because of the tires)



why did you swap? I thought your old wheels were decently big 15s? 15s and 16s are a good slick size... 17 I didn't think was. (I could be wrong). do they make a 23-24" slick for a 17?

 

I have 15x10 steelies.

These are a little lighter and with the 5.14 gears I don't need a 22.6" diameter tire. I can get 275/35-17 A7s, which are 24.6"

These also clear the brake calipers much better around the basket area and I got the full set with tires - that will be given away - for $400

 

Good deal..

 

Freezer is full of wheel bearings as a contingency plan for a "While I'm in there" situation while installing my new ARP extended wheel studs. (Thanks J-Auto)

Spacers got dropped off at the machine shop to get a little tuneup to fit more nicely.

Meanwhile, I need to get off my *** and get the shop to finish up my rear diff, because my driveshaft FINALLY shipped yesterday. Apparently it takes more than a month to manufacture a carbon fiber driveshaft.

 

Fronts = easy. Rears = UGH

 

Rule #1: If it's apart, it gets cleaned and painted before going back on the car.

 

Do you have a blasting cabinet, or are you using some other method of cleaning?

 

elbow grease. Blast cabinet is on the "to-get" list.

 

Rear subframe and diff is all out to get cleaned up and prepped for the Ford unit.

 

Fresh and clean once more.

 

I only clean stuff when it comes off, I don't repaint. but my car is a California car, so there is really only dirt, no rust.

 

She's not rusty - never seen winter - but 30 years of aluminum oxidation would take forever to polish out. Much easier to give it a good clean and a shot of paint to protect.

Meanwhile -



I know when that driveshaft bling. That can only mean one thing.

Re-doing the fuel system while the rear suspension is all out. Much easier to access. Switching from braided -6 to lightweight aeroquip 8

 

I enjoy knowing there is a protective coat of oxidation on all my raw aluminium parts. Looking good.

 

Finished refreshing the diff and installing my gears and LSD last night. Might actually have this in the car this weekend!