Colby had already installed the lockrite and had re-installed the ring gear.....I removed the ring gear again and filed the surfaces smooth and re-assembled without the clips. I used locktite and 70 ft/lb.

Somehow, the first 2 or 3 threads were damaged when I received them.....so the left one is a stocker and right is the re-work I did with the sanding disc to fix things.

The starter pinion shim I choose this time was an even .100"....

After pressing the shims and the bearing on, I tried .054" on the solid collar shim.....too tight for me as pre-load checked in at 20 in/lb....took .002" off and pre-load was a nice 10 in/lb.

First pattern check yields a litle deep. This is the drive side.

Coast side

Now every time I switch to a new pinion shim value involves a tear down...take caps off...take carrier out...pinion nut off...yoke off...press out pinion gear...press big bearing off...place new shim in place and re-assemble.

I re-shimmed to .095" and this is too shallow on the drive...

Re-shimmed to .098" and kept the backlash around .009" and I was satisfied with this.

It's 98% done but had to go to the dealer up for a pinion seal so this is where we are....:)

Genuine Toyota seal. Employed some grease on the rubber seal portion and RTV on the steel outside.

Because of the solid collar design, I could slam the pinion nut down tight with the electric impact. Medium strength blue Loc-tite was used and the nut was staked.

Ready to ship back to Colby.......