If I put in lockers with my existing 3.73 gears can I just put the shims back the way they came out or is a total gear setup necessary? Sorry for the noobish question, I searched but didn't find anything.

Thanks

 

If you can try it that way first, that's what I would try as well.

If it doesn't fit, lose some shims and run a pattern.

 

Just cuz it physically fits back in the housing doesn't mean the backlash is going to be correct. That's gonna take the same work as re-gearing and would almost certainly require being reshimmed. You may as well re-gear while you're in there. Hard to imagine being thrilled with those 3.73s.

 

No.

If the carrier was retained.... shims go back as they came out.

Your changing the carrier, the carrier is the entire reason that the shims exist.... they are all machined slightly different. Again, you are removing the carrier and replacing it with a new (locker version) one, and the old shim stack no longer means a shitting thing. Nothing. At all. You need to get the lash set correctly based on the machine tolerance (left/right) of that new carrier. The pinion depth is still right, so no need to touch that. Now just get the ring living where it needs to.

 

Thanks for the replies, that clears it up!