instructions say to preload bearings with crush collar,basically go by feel type thing.felt collar seat then went till no loose movement.feels good no roughness,but i look at the bearing behind the pinion gear and turn the pinion while looking and the bearing does not turn
is this "preload"?is it common on brand new races and bearings will it move after i put the gear oil in,dont want to seize a bearing,so better find someone here i could ask.
thanx,
shane

amount of crush collar is going to determine pinion depth. Bearing preload is done after pinion depth is set.
if you only went till the collar seated. I can almost gaurantee you haven't even started to crush the collar enough.
It take a lot of force to start crushing the sleeve

this is the final assembly.setup has allready been done....i have a 550 ft lb. impact that crushed the collar just fine.so is it normal to spin freely and the bearing not to spin is this
"bearing preload"will it spin after break in or is something wrong??they supplied two collars one old style (long)and a short one wich sits on a race on the pinion i used the old style should i use the new style to go with the new gear
shane

Does "spin freely" mean you can give it a quick twist and the pinion spins a few times. If it does you have no preload, should not be hard to turn but should not spin.

i have preload.no it does not,"spin a few times"
preload is done the bearing does not turn is this normal??????????
shane

If I remember correctly, It should take approx 12-15 inlbs of force to turn the pinion flange. Once preload is set.
I think what you're seeing is the cage of the bearing not turning -the rollers probably are turning. are you sure the cage for the rollers didn't get squashed somehow on assembly?

well i think what i did was instead of looking for just back and forth motion i also was feeling for up and down motion to,there was a point were it felt real good but i felt for play up and down and had some(very small amount) so i kept on the collar till it was gone,not thinking that there is going to be a little play between the cages and the rollers up and down,(very small amount)thus binding the bearings,how does that sound?i've got another type of crush sleeve they gave me in the kit,it doesnt ride between the 2 bearings just the yolk side and the pinion gear has a race the sleeve sits on.so maybe i should try to be gentle this time huh??

Once your pinion depth is determined, you will torque the pinion nut probably close to 250 ft. lbs. until it takes XXXX amount of inch pounds to turn the pinion shaft. Probably about 25 inch lbs using new bearings. To get the crush collar started, I sometimes use a hydralic press to just start to crush it, before installation.

Sir, the contact patterns, ring gear-to-pinion gear backlash, pinion bearings preload, etc. are published and illustrated in the Chevy Chassis Overhaul manual for your car. Videotapes that show how-to-do-it are for sale at various places. Automotive technology textbooks are available at public lbraries. Chiltons/Motors/Haynes etc. would love to sell you an illustrated manual. One of our resident experts in this skill is "Biggearhead" he will no doubt respond when he sees your post. In the meantime--no offense intended--it seems that you don't at all know what you are doing. Since the specs are measured in thousandths of an inch and INCH pounds, "just a little-off" is just a little indeed, but could result in ruination of your expensive gears and bearings. Good luck.

My $0.02

sir????
well i did just fine,nothing better than hands on experience.had no probs with anything else,setup went good.the original crush collar was tightened
to much hence the bearing binding up.a good friend of mine came over and helped me with the pinion and walked me through it.sometimes i think we view something as hard then treat it as such,when it isnt really that bad.hardest part for me was installing the bearing race inside the housing.drove it around a little,cant wait to stick my foot in it 175 miles to go.
thanx for the help guys,
shane