Well hey, if its out and on the bench; this is how I do it.
First I disassemble the case, and prove that there is adequate clearance between the cones and the case.I am looking for .050 .I do this by laying a short length of solder down in the case. Then I drop the cone down on it. Then I take my 2.5pounder and a big brass drift, and whack the cone down onto the solder a few times. When the cone ceases to rock, I assume it is bottomed. I pull the cone and measure the now-squashed solder. To get the clearance, the bottom of the cone needs to be machined off on a lathe.
But if the bottom of the cone is worn all shiney, then it is already too worn to test, so just lathe about .030 off it and then do the solder test.
The .050 number, is an arbitrary number. I chose this number because it will provide many more years of service. You could probably get away with less. I wouldnt go any less than .030.
So once thats done, we have to restore the spring preload. And this is how I do that;
I clamp an axle vertically in the benchvise and drop the case over it to engage the splineS. Then I take my home-made tool (a stub-axle about 10 inches long with a big nut welded on the end ), and drop it in the otherside. Then I just grab the torquewrench, and shoot for 110 to 130 turning torque.You may not have such a tool. What I would do if I didnt have a tool, is this; I would reclamp that first axle, horizontally in the benchvise, with enough stub sticking out over the table, to slide the case on to.Then I would take the 2nd axle and insert it into the remaining side, and bury it in there all the way.Then I would put some nuts on two non-adjacent studs to protect the threads. I would put a long bar on those two protected studs, and pretend its a torquewrench.
If the turning torque is too low, I insert shims between the side-gears and their cones, then retest.My shims are sized for the 8.75. You will have to get friendly with the parts guy to find something that will work in the 7.25er.Unless somebody comes along and chimes in.
If the turning torque gets to be too high the shims need to be swapped for thinner ones.
Sometimes the spiders are worn or the case behind the spiders is worn, allowing the side gears to come in too near to the spider tooth inside tips. You have to watch for this. If that happens ,remove the previously installed shims and double up the spider washers first,and retest the turning torque.
When you think you are finished, disassemble the case halves and pull out the springs. Reassemble the case without the springs, but with all the washers still in it. Now spin a sidegear and make sure nothing binds in there. Next,push a spider up/out towards the case, and check that the sidegears are properly meshed with it, running in the center of the worn areas.Repeat with the other one. And finally check the backlashes between all the gears.There needs to be as little as possible without actually binding. Its not rocket science, but its important that they are all close to the same, so that when the power comes through them, that not one pinion is more heavily loaded than any other. Given time and miles it will even out, but try and get them reasonably matched.Sometimes a sidegear washer, or a pinion washer will have to be swapped out for another, to balance the backlashes out.
And finally reoil it,reassemble the springs back into it, and retest the turning torque.
Congratulations you are done. Now go out there lay down stripeS.
PS dont forget;All the guts have to be lubed with the correct mixture of gear oil and the SG additive, prior to measuring the turning torque.
Thats how I do it.
