[66Submarine]

Thanks, glad you guys like it.

I finally got the 4.10 third member in yesterday!

The first thing I noticed about it was that some chucklehead had put the pinion nut on finger-tight. Really, not only could I grab the driveshaft and shake the pinion around, I actually held the socket in my hand and screwed it off...not even close. The cotter pin was in there, so that was how it was put together...nice.

It also had something like .040" of backlash.

I took it apart, cleaned everything up, replaced the old pinion seal that was hard as a rock, put the pinion nut back on like it was supposed to have been, took some of the backlash out of it, checked the pattern, and I was ready to install it.

But I had one last bit of incompetence to deal with...after getting the bolts out of the third member in the truck it was obvious they were ruined and I had to tap all the holes in the housing and find some more bolts laying around...finally ready to go.

I put it in without any issue, hooked the driveshaft back up, put the axles back in, filled it up with oil, and went for a short test drive around the block.

The change in gearing was immediately noticeable. I didn't love how it felt like I let out a small anchor at some point during the swap, but the reduction in engine speed was nice. It ended up being kind of loud from the past damage, but it doesn't seem to run hot and doesn't leak, so I like it!

The old one also had a lot of pitting on the ring gear and tons of backlash, but I didn't get any good pictures of it.