I have a 1988 suzuki samurai that I would like a shop to help me set the pinion shaft depth and the backlash on. I have the bearings and everything all ready to go, but would like a shop to set it up properly vs myself probably screwing it up. Located in the Woodlands. I can easily just deliver the gear set to them.

Any idea what a shop should charge for that?

The bearings aren't pressed on are they? What you're after is the meat & potatoes of a gear swap and is essentially the entire cost of having a shop do everything. My guess is $500 per axle at minimum.

I presume this isn't a DD, thus my recommendation is to give it a shot yourself. It's not necessarily hard, just time consuming. You'll need to make a setup pinion bearing and a dial indicator. Remove the old bearing from old pinion and measure the shim, that will be your starting point.

I've setup up 2 axles by myself and have torn up 0 ring and pinions.

The bearings on the ring gear arent pressed on, but the bearings on the pinion shaft are. Watchin a few youtube videos it appears its a trial and error deal of installing the pinion and bearings and then pulling it all back apart shimming it as you go until its set right. I have the new bearings installed already and is when I realized there is too much movement in the pinion shaft, so it all needs to come back apart.... somehow lol... I dont have a dial indicator to set it properly, but I guess I could acquire one. I dont really have the set up to do it properly, and was hoping a shop could do it pretty easy with it all apart already.

Its certainly not a daily driver as its just a little rust bucket ranch truck Im trying to make usable.

Going to show my ignorance here, but where exactly on the pinion shaft does the shim go? It originally had a single small shim between the pinion gear and the bearing at the pinion gear. I would need to get a caliper tool as well to determine the size of that original shim.

I have done this for my Nissan. It took about 2 days of putting it together and taking it apart to get the right shim settings and adjustments to get a good mesh pattern at the right torques.

It is extremely tedious, even with a big ass Vice, a differential holder, and a shop press, and all the tools, but it's not rocket science. It just takes time and effort and patience to keep things clean and put them together properly, and take all the measurements and check the mesh pattern.

Big reason why I go went with a Japanese make of vehicle and bought good quality components. Quality control is good enough that if I have done it right I will only have to do it once.

Admittedly I don't know the specifics of your axle and am only versed in the GM 8.5/8.6, but the pinion shim is placed between the pinion head and the pinion bearing. You'd need a bearing puller and press or just take it to a shop to have the bearing removed.

The trial and error aspect is why a setup bearing needs to be made, to avoid pressing & pulling the bearing numerous times.

I setup my axles with a $30 dial indicator, Harbor Freight digital calipers, $30 beam style in/lbs torque wrench, and a crude $25 pinion depth measuring tool from Ratech.

The beam style torque wrench is needed to set pinion preload. You need to be able to measure the rotational torque, not torque required to start spinning the pinion.

The Ratech pinion depth tool served me well building the 8.5, but not so much during the 8.6 build. I'll likely go without it next time I build an axle.

Here's a post on my 8.5 build
https://texags.com/forums/46/topics/1797009/replies/51934819

And 8.6 build
https://texags.com/forums/46/topics/3182161/2#discussion

The shims for the pinion, if it is not a crush type setup, would go between the inner bearing race that presses on the pinion shaft and the back side of the pinion head usually. You are positioning the pinion deeper or less deep into its mesh with the ring gear. The bearings are seated in a fixed position in the housing, so what changes the position is the spacer between the inner bearing and the pinion head.

Yes, this means for every pinion adjustment you must remove the pinion retention nut, pull the pinion, press off the inner bearing race, adjust the shim pack accordingly, press the bearing race back on, put the pinion back in the housing, and re torque the nut, then inspect the new mesh pattern AND verify the resistance to turning is correct. Each attempt takes a good 1/2 to 1 hour if you are working steadily and making all the proper measurements and keeping everything clean and greased.

But if you have time, you can do it, and probably will do it better than many shops would bother to do.

Thanks guys. Sounds like I need to decide if I have the time to dedicate to do it right. Would be a cool learning experience, although also sounds like a somewhat frustrating process lol.

In the meantime, I will still take any shop recommendations.

I had Lone Star Ring and Pinion rebuild an 8.8 for me last year. He took his time, but did good work at a fair price. They are in Katy, and its just a shop behind his house.

JB said:

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I had Lone Star Ring and Pinion rebuild an 8.8 for me last year. He took his time, but did good work at a fair price. They are in Katy, and its just a shop behind his house.

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Thanks. I'll look them up!

Another option but you may not want to make the drive.

Pyle Brothers in Baytown

Its been years since I've used them but I've had a few 9" chunks built by them.

Another option I forgot to mention.

Go to the Smiley's Racing shop in The Woodlands. Ask someone working there. They should be able to give you some recommendations possibly closer than Baytown or Katy.

RC_57 said:

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Another option I forgot to mention.

Go to the Smiley's Racing shop in The Woodlands. Ask someone working there. They should be able to give you some recommendations possibly closer than Baytown or Katy.

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Thanks RC. They referred to a shop who referred me to another shop who is in magnolia! Much better than driving to Katy.

3rdgenAg2010 said:

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RC_57 said:

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Another option I forgot to mention.

Go to the Smiley's Racing shop in The Woodlands. Ask someone working there. They should be able to give you some recommendations possibly closer than Baytown or Katy.

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Thanks RC. They referred to a shop who referred me to another shop who is in magnolia! Much better than driving to Katy.

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This popped into my head when reading this:

3rdgenAg2010 said:

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RC_57 said:

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Another option I forgot to mention.

Go to the Smiley's Racing shop in The Woodlands. Ask someone working there. They should be able to give you some recommendations possibly closer than Baytown or Katy.

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Thanks RC. They referred to a shop who referred me to another shop who is in magnolia! Much better than driving to Katy.

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What's the name of the shop in Magnolia? Was it Triple D Transmission?

Armando's Standard Transmissions