so the only thing left to do is to slide the t-case input gear on the transmission main shaft, tighten up the bolt with plenty of red loctite and install the pto cover. then the combo is ready to go in. right?
WRONG!!!!!
I slide on the input gear ( had done so on every "dry run" even tried it on the new main shaft before rebuilding the trans.
the gear slides on and into position just fine. but as soon as i install the bolt and washer ( and tighten them gently with my hand an an impact socket ), the entire geartrain locks up.
at this point i'm getting a little frustrated with this project but i can only laugh at it since i'm gatting my ass kicked pretty bad. but i'll win in the end. i always do. good thing i'm stubborn and like to figure things out.
so after taking a breather i come back to the combo and after a very short inspection i realize that the t-case input gear is bottoming out against the orion case. crap.
so i call Merle again. i give him the good news about modifying the bearing race first, then i hit him with the input gear issue. he's somewhat perplexed but more than happy to help with info. i discuss the issue with him and one of his guys, stever. very helpful bunch and good guys to deal with. always have been. we agree that there needs to be some sort of spacer to keep the orion input gear frm sliding towards the 465 too far.
soooooo, back apart they come. but before i divroce these two again, i measure where the input gear needs to ride to mesh perfectly with the idler gear.
well, none of the spacers i had in my "spacer bucket" were just the right ID. and most of them were too long. but one spacer from a split case will due with some machine work. problem is, most spacers are hardened steel so they won't collapse or mushroom over time. this one was too. i chucked it up in the lathe and tried to cut a chamfer in the leading edge. nothing but squealing and glowing little liny ships. good way to ruin your tooling .......
so i take another breather. then i decide to call in some help. i get one the phone with my buddies at AA/ none of them had seen this setup before. can't blame them, that's why they make their spud-shaft style adapters. i call Merle back, not much info there either.
so i call poser. we've exchanged plenty of t-case and other tech in the past. i tell him about the issue and he mentions that mike aka treeroot had a similar issue a couple of years ago and had posted something on his site but it was down. steve remembers him using a spacer or thurst washer. that's the ticket! a factory hardened thrust washer for the output gears in the one-piece t-case. great idea.
i garb one out of my orion hardware bins and what do you know, it's prefect! fwiw, i like using the oem thrust washers because they're not only hardened and extremely great metallurgy, but they're also slightly chamfered on the inner edges so there's less change of any particles contaminating the trans or t-case.
anyhow, long story short, if you're going to run a plate adapter with an SM465 and orion, then you'll need to modify the bearing race in the adapter, but the 5 adapter bolts down to length and run a thrust washer in front of the t-case input gear. all of that can be done in 15-20 minutes if you know about it. if you don't, then you can spend most of a day figuring it all out. i do get a few phone calls a day so there are "interruptions".

nevermind keeping the rest of the guys/projects at the shop going.
hth
georg @ valley hybrids