I have a 2011 sport, with 3.21 gearing. I bought used gears off of here, supposed to be out of an 07 I think. Anyways I tore down the back, put the new ring gear on, got my pinion mocked up to check backlash and depth, and cant get the gear pattern right.. I can get the backlash set pretty on spot, but when I run my pattern my pinion depth is off. Long story I ened up with so many shims in it the pinion hit the carrier, checking each time and still showing to need more shims. Tried just removing all the shims just to see if anything would change and nothing did. Thoughts? Im giving up on it for the night, and am gonna try again in the morn. The axles underneath the jk (at least the rear) never changed, did they? Or maybe Im just having a prob with the used gears, Ive read theyre hard to set up. And yeah before somebody asks Ive been looking at coast and drive sides, just to try and get a feel for where its at

 

No help from the jeep gods today? Im stumped, to be honest. I think Im going to put the 3.21s back in for the time being and find some new gears... I just dont know what else it could be..

 

I can't help you, but post up pics of your pattern to help diagnose the issue.

 

I personally have never set up an axle gear set but I overhaul turbine engines and have done many patterns and backlashes on gearboxes. I don't know your experience but I have seen people chase patterns the wrong way you may want to try going back to where you started and back off a little farther to see if that helps. Just a thought.

Edit: disregard I see where you tried removing all shims and nothing changed. If the pattern is still in the same orientation something else is influencing it possible the ring gear not completely seated or carrier not completely seated into housing?? I would double check everything else and all bearings properly seated, no debris on the shim surfaces that could be messing you up. If this was a working set moved into another housing that could cause problems too. I see alot more problems setting up used gears in gearboxes than using new.

 

Yeah I spent today just throwing the 3.21s back in, gotta have a way to get to work tomorrow.. I was checking my patterns with the pinion preload set and with the carrier bolted in, so I know that was good. The pattern was too consistent for the ring gear to not been properly seated. Consistent but off.
I was doing research on this last night and found something of interest. On one parts suppliers site you look at replacement axle parts, in ring and pinions the 07s have their own part numbers for dana 44 rear ring and pinion sets while 08-12s all share part numbers.. Might send them an email to inquire why. Ive pretty much given up on the used gearset idea but Id kinda like to know. Ive never had a set of gears get the best of me before, but never tried to put gears in a jeep before either

 

Good luck.