741 - crush sleeve and shims?

"just curious but what was the pinion preload that you say was too tight ----.most people cannot believe how tight 20-25 in/lbs rotating will feel when turning just the pinion and the effort increases with the carrier installed"

Well as I said, I have not checked that yet although I have two torque wrenches, as I don't have the correct 1- 1/8" socket. I will be buying one in the next few days. I might see if I have a metric one that goes close though as I am interested to see what it reads at. Although I am pretty sure I don't have anything between 25mm and 30 mm. 1" = 25.4mm

the diff guy who felt it and who has 25 years experience in diffs said it is on the high side and "may" loosen up with use but he said if it gets too hot then it would need to come out again.

"Australia must have 9 inch Ford parts available ----if you need pinion shims to reset the preload get a solid spacer kit and shims for a 9 inch Ford -- the shims out of the 9 inch kit are the same as used in the 741 and 742 cases"

Thanks for that great advice John, yes Aust has plenty of Ford 9's, many of our vehicles had them. So that's great news, it will be much easier to hunt up a shim set for a 9" and use them. You saved me some time and effort, I'll buy you a beer!