some of these used a '' pilot or pocket'' brg. , on the end of the pinion for support. if so, very common to fail. if not , most probable would be the ''inner'' pinion brg. either way, disassembly is required. as far as the ''pinion nut'' goes, usually a ''crimp or lock ''nut.This is what we call no bueno. Got new nut and tightened yoke back on to see.
Something has failed on the other side to allow this play and let the nut back off and hit like that. Guess hope wasn’t the fix.
Will drop tracks pull axles next few nights. Not horrible if the chunk clears the table.
Up to 4 non-self-propelling Tuckers at the East Coast Preserve!View attachment 159639
This is a fine reference. What it does not cover is how to set pinion depth if you do not already have the pinion in the housing. A whole nuther ball of wax. What I have done in this case is turn a round cylinder, the diameter of the carrier bearings and make a machined block to go between the end of the pinion and the turned cylinder which is a few thousandths undersize . Secure the cylinder with the bearing caps. Then use feeler gages to set the proper depth using the scribed + or - on the pinion to set the depth. I always go with the scribed depth and have not had a howler or failure. A real good description of Dana gear set up.I don't know if this will interest you, but I'll throw it out there just in case. (What's also true is at some point in the future someone may be reading your thread, and this may help them.)
There is a Canadian fellow named Bill Ansell who does a deep dive into many different areas, and I have found his work on multiple topics extremely educational and helpful. He goes by the name BillaVista, and his work first appeared on pirate4x4.com, but now he has his own website, unsurprisingly, billavista.com.
Here's a link to his discussion of ring and pinion gears, in this case on the Dana 60, but many of the principles have universal application. He really goes far in depth, and does an excellent job of presenting the information.
This won't be a quick read, so grab a couple of your favorite beverages and dig in - if you so choose:
BillaVista.com-Gear Setup Bible Tech Article by BillaVista
www.billavista.com