You're not slow. You're meticulous, lol.

If that friction modifier smells half as bad as the Ford stuff, I know exactly what you mean. I don't even like to open the cabinet where we keep that stuff at work. Even in sealed bottles, it smells awful.

 

Meticulous...???....perhaps....but also got ahead of myself.

I got the OEM ring gear onto the Dura Grip, back into the housing. Took over an hour to get the right shims, have a backlash of 0.0075"...which is tighter than what the open-diff was originally, but looser than what I just took out. I tried to use the original shims, just would not go. So then I put the cover on...got ready to fill...and that is when it hit me that I did not check the pattern.....crap!!

Oh well....at least I had not put fluid back in yet.....

 

In theory, if you set the backlash the same as before you took it apart, the pattern will be the same. The pinion depth cannot change just by replacing the carrier. If you're close to the original backlash, I suspect it will still be fine. Make sure you check backlash at three separate spots around the ring gear, because it can vary slightly. Significant variation would indicate that the ring gear is not properly seated (dirt behind it, etc.).

Also, make sure you have plenty of carrier bearing preload. I've never heard of carrier bearings failing from too much preload. If you don't have enough, try adding a small amount of shim to the side opposite the ring gear to help loosen up the backlash a little at the same time.

 

That was my thinking as well.....so I decided to not take the cover off....filled with fluid. Put the drums/rotors on. Still on rear jack stands, started engine, put into Drive and listened. Only noise I heard was from the calipers as I had not put any lug nuts on....drums/rotors were a bit loose. Did the brake on / off couple of times....put into Reverse.....all seems to be good. Put the anti-sway bar, rear tires and got the spare tire back into place. Went for a very short drive...like 200 feet which included a circle....still no abnormal noise. Will do more slow driving around when I have more time, need to get it up to temp, before I call it good.

Later