Pinion-To-Gear Tooth Contact Pattern Check And Adjustment - Suzuki Samurai 1986 Service Manual

Pinion-to-gear Tooth Contact Pattern Check and Adjustment

In addition to proper backlash, proper tooth contact must be secured in the mesh of bevel pinion and
gear, so that there will be no "gear noise" coming from the axle and that the hypoid teeth will not be
overstressed in transmitting drive.
After the specified amount of backlash has been secured, check the pinion and gear for tooth contact by
"rolling" contact patterns in a manner consistent with the standard shop practice: use a red lead paste to
paint ten teeth, both drive side and coast side, of the gear, turn the gear back and forth by hand while
holding the pinion in a "braking" manner, and examine the contact patterns in reference to the following
chart:
Contact is roughly centered and somewhat
more displaced toward toe than toward heel
on both drive side (concave) and coast
High contact: Contact is on heel (drive side)
and on toe (coast side). This condition means
that the pinion is too far back and must be
brought forward by increasing its shim
thickness used in "mounting distance" adjust-
Low contact: Contact is on toe (drive side)
and on heel (coast side). This condition
means that the pinion is too far out from the
carrier and must be backed away by decreas-
ing its shim thickness.
These contact patterns indicate that the
"offset" of differential carrier is too much or
too little. The remedy is to replace the
carrier with a new one.
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