Problems With an 8.25 - What would you do?

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65 Dartman

65 Dartman

1 of None 65 Dart Sedan Delivery
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I obtained a 73 A Body 8.25 housing with saddle caps that I was going to use in one of my early A Bodies. I located a Sure Grip unit and a set of 3.21 gears. I also decided to do the Jeep Grand Cherokee disc brake swap and sourced all that stuff as well. I decided to have my local Mopar dealer install the center section and pinion gear and I would finish the disc conversion. Yes, they have a long time mechanic who has the reputation for being the best rear end guy around. I have been advised the pinion depth cannot be set to specs even with 2 new sets of spacers or whatever they're called to set the depth. The mechanic suggested that the ring and pinion gear might not be a matched set, which is a possibility as I bought the gears from another member several years ago. I don't need this rear end as the only A Body I now have is the Dart wagon and it will be getting a ready to install 8.75 with a 3.23 Sure Grip. The plan was get it set up and sell it as a complete unit with the disc brakes. Another local member was very interested in buying it. With the current issues It's not a sellable rear end IMO. I am now leaning towards just parting it out selling the sure grip unit, housing, axles and disc brake stuff rather than spending more money finding a set of brand new gears, pinion bearings and associated stuff to set it up and letting the dealer finish the job ( the work is what you'd call a fill in job and not the going rate so it's not costing but a couple hours of labor. Part the rear end out or buy a set of gears and finish getting it assembled and sell it?
 
The story doesn't make sense to me..... My initial thoughts of having a mismatched set of gears will most likely start to show up when you mark the pattern. Unless it is the improper pinion for the housing, you should be able to get the correct pinion depth. Buying used rear end parts is a tricky deal unless you know the history.....

If you did the deal to flip it and make a few bucks then something is always worth more when it's complete and ready to bolt in for use. But you can also go backwards on the investment real quick unless you have the ability to do the work and even then you can lose time or as I say going tired and hungry to make a few bucks.....

JW
 
Update on this thread - I contacted Dr Diff and discussed the issue the mechanic was having at determining the pinion depth. He said he has never set up an 8.25, but is book knowledgable about it. His recommendation was to set it up with 30-40 thou of shims and see what the pattern looked like, then add or subtract shims as needed.

Rather than try this approach the dealer would rather give me back everything and not really mess with it. I also found out the really experienced mechanic had retired and there’s no one with any real experience in dealing with rear ends. So I now have everything until i decide what to do with it.
 
just do it yourself. I did one (742 8.75) cold turkey with internet instructions and it came out spot on, no finesse needed, just a $8 dial mic from HF and some paint. IIRC the matching gears will have matching numbers on them and tell the shim pack but that may not be absolute. No harm trying it.
 
I will have to take a look at the gears - matched set from Richmond Gear and see if it says anything about the shim pack. Thanks!
 
Matching numbers would just tell you if the gears were OEM, Im not sure if Richmond or aftermarket had the set numbers on them as modern production methods may have phased that out. Remember that stock demanded no noise so they may have gone through an additional step at the factory to ensure that the gears were ran in together. After market may tolerate a little noise.
 
Why not just figure out how much would it take to satisfy you and sell it as is? Maybe someone else is willing and able to do the work themselves, and then you don't have to spend more money on it just to break even. Has to be someone that wants one.
 
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