4.88 superior gear install need help reading pattern

[4x4 Station Wagon]

I could use a hand reading this pattern... I started with the factory .080 shim and did my best to read CD and came up with I needed .013 more shim so I added a .010 and here is the pattern at .006 BL as the ring gear was stamped for.

This is the part I am never confident with

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

This one shows the pinion as too deep into the ring gear right? I almost think I need to remove the .010 but let face it I am not sure...

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

A friend of mine told me to add shims... Even though I was planning to take them out. He is very knowledgable so I figured I bet get back to googling. I was worried about the toe and heel rather than the face and flank. Once I started looking towards it I am obviously towards the face. My original CD measurement had me needing to go .003 more shim. I am going to add .010 and if it is obviously too much I will find the middle ground.

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

I added .010 and this is without a doubt better. I am not sure if I need .005 or .010 now but I think I will go .010 and if it is too much I will come back

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

The pics are going to start going south as it got dark and if I use the flash it washes the pics out...
Any ways I added the additional .010 so I am up to .030 above the factory .080 and you can see that as far as I am concerned this was not for the good and I made it worse.

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

So then I realized that my toe side was a good football pattern but my heal was curved towards the flank on my .020 pattern so I thought maybe if I removed .015 from my recent .030 addition it would get a true football pattern on both sides but it didnt work.... Now the heel side is a perfect football pattern but the toe side is curved towards the face. I really believe I need a .0025 type shim to find the happy medium but I am a novice with too many beers at this point.... I am honestly thinking either would work and at this point if I do not hear any input I plan to google to find out if the toe or heal side of the pattern is more important since I do not have any .0025 type shims my combinations will only get me to a .005. I do like the second try at .020 better than this last .015. It seems based off of my reading that the .020 is good pinion depth and I may just need to increase backlash slightly. Any thoughts are appreciated.

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

Lets face it I have a lot of confusing crud posted so far so here is some clarification. The pic below is of the .020 more than the stock .080 shim. The football is towards the toe. The imaginary .015 is what I see in when I look at the .015 above the .080 pics. The more i read it appears that the .020 shows the correct pinion depth and as mentioned before by adding a bit more backlash may correct the heel side. The thought going through my mind right now is that the CD is never going to change unless the bearings are failing but the backlash will loosen up as it breaks in so do I just run the .020???

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

Now for the dumbest question... Should I be focusing on the coast side instead of the normal drive side since this is for the front???

 

[fjfodee]

Go to gearinstalls.com and check out Zuk's work. Helped me out a ton.
Edit: pattern looks deep.

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

Thanks I appreciate the link. I was lucky enough to have found it prior and have spent a lot of time on it. Great resource!

So your thinking deep..... Ok I will play with it some more.

Here is a pic that Zuk calls "shallow but would probably work". It reminds me of when I went to .015


Here is a pic that Zuk calls "Nice" after he added .003 shims. It reminds me of my .020 pattern. his even tails back towards the root on the heel side like my .020 seems to do.

Any thoughts?

 

[fjfodee]

Yep, I see your point. I like to run mine a little on the deep side. You will want to focus on the coast side, however the drive side will take the brunt of the torque when in reverse.