Anyone ever see this on a Dana 44 before?

[Madman]

I disassembled my Dana 44 for an overhaul and found something wacky on the pinion that does not make sense. In front (between the inner and outer that is) of the outer bearing are what appear to be 4 shims. They are not shims that go behind the race, they are in fact so small that they would pass right through the race on the pinion shaft. It goes inner pinion oil slinger, then inner bearing, then these little wacky shim things, the outer bearing, then the next set of slinger, then the pinion nut/assembly. This is a swap in from a 76 F250, so it has never run for me, but this is how I disassembled it. I know just because it came apart that way doesn't mean it is correct. I'm thinking the shims are not suppose to be there and can be removed. Has anyone ever seen this before??

[eggman918]

IIRC there are two sets of pinion shims the one set that goes behind the cup that sets pinion depth and the smaller set that goes between the small bearing and the shoulder
on the pinion shaft to set pinion shaft preload . Here is a link to the Dana webpage and the D44 maintenance manual
http://www2.dana.com/pdf/5310-3.pdf

[Madman]

That must be it, similar to a preload shim set on a DANA 60, but I never saw anything like that on a 44 in person or in their documentation. Seems like it would be suspect to failure from riding on the face of the bearing and fail in bitty pieces, but perhaps I worry too much!

[Madman]

And another big thank you, that limk is a worthy piece of information!

[eggman918]

Happy to help that Dana site has served me well for many parts of my Cummins swap,It is good to see a company spend time/money to help us hobby mechanics
Good luck with the 44
Steve.