Hopefully it can be some thing simple to put on pinion gear to get ya going.

 

i sure hope so. i was having some body work done on it through the week, so friday and the weekend we were gonna sneak it on the rack and have it done before monday. deffinately screwed that plan up real good, plus they take back the rental car tomorrow. so i HAVE to get this thing going again.

 

i just pulled up everything i could find on google about 8.5 and 8.6 differences. and EVERYWHERE has said they have the same ring and pinion? just the carrier bearings are different.

 

i would be curious to know if they sent the 8.5 install kit and the bearings and races are all the wrong sizes????? this would make sense. i think. i cant seem to find any differences though between the two? they say there different. but no details or specifications to tell why...

 

well the ring gear size is definitely different. hence the numbers my 14 bolt has a 10.5" ring gear

 

as far as i can tell the 8.6 has the same 8.5 ring, but beefier axle housing on the carrier. all of my issues are with the pinion though not snugging up. its loose even with the yoke nut bottomed out. like im missing some kind of shim/washer/spacer. and come to think of it now, its got to be the right bearing kit, if not they wouldnt have fit my 8.6 carrier.... im COMPLETELY dumb-founded right now... its not even tightening up enough to hit the crush washer to preload the bearings.

 

8.5/8.6 ring gear and pinion are the same

 

Can u make a shim/washer to make it work ?

 

They are the same. Just put Yukon 3.73 in my truck yesterday. They were 8.5 gears. The only difference I know of is the carrier bearings are bigger than the 99 and earlier rears.
I will say the crush sleeve is a pain to crush. It took about 500+ ft lbs to crush mine. Broke the 1/2 in drive breaker too.

 

well i used a 450lbs snap on impact driver. with 2 shims it fit. but put the carrier out of wack so i gotta shim it now. i thought i had it zero'ed in but it make a whole lotta noise and kaboomed the g80. lol so i ordered a truetrac for it, it got here today, installing tomorrow. anyone ever used the usa standard gears? thats what i bought, i think it was a bad idea... if it causes too many more problems im gonna order some yukons. im almost a grand in on this ordeal, plus i havent had my truck in a week. so dropping 250 on some name brand gears to end it wouldnt bother me a bit. lol