489 Gear noise and an odd thing I noticed

Yeah, that means there’s no pinion bearing preload, which has you headed right to the “Chrysler Clunk” anytime the prop shaft loads the pinion. It’s the end result of the pinion getting up and down movement. Even with the solid spacer, pinion preload is necessary.
^^^ Much appreciated ^^^
The solid spacer doesn't even compress the bearings enough to get rid of a ton of slop and is too irregular to trim in the lathe. Pinion nut was staked, so I don't think it's been off until now.
Thanks Garrett,