Dana 35 carrier shims

This is the first dif that I've ever set-up that had the shims for the carrier between the bearing cups and the dif itself. Is there a secret to holding these things in place while you get the carrier in? There's a bunch of shims and I'm going through hell trying to hold them all in place while I get the carrier in. When I was doing the initial set-up I didn't have this problem, but then I added a few thousands to put some preload on the carrier and I'm losing my mind.

Any help is always appreciated.

Measure the stack of thin shims and replace all of them or at least some of them with a single thicker shim, you will have to do this for both sides of course to keep your backlash set. Or you could just get or make a case spreader, those are your only 2 options.

I had the same issue. I was able to wedge them in there and then stick the carrier in. You might need a second set of hands. Also, my shims were really thick, so I didn't have a bunch of thin ones.

See, I've got a bunch of them with the thickest ones being .030" and I have those on the outside with the thin ones in the middle. If only I had a surface grinder here I could make my own from the factory shims.

I was hoping for a secret handshake or something. Oh well, I'll play with it tomorrow after the sun comes up again.

I got to thinking, maybe I'm trying to go too thick. I never had a problem when I was doing the initial set-up. I'll have to play with that in the morning.

You could stick them together with grease.