I have no clearance between ring gear and pinon. There are on shims in the assembly. Where should material be remove to create the proper clearance?

You adjust by removing material from the bronze thrust washer. Ether by lathe or hand. By hand, sand paper on a flat surface (like the cast iron top of a table saw) works. Work the material off by sanding then turning 90 deg's, sand some more to keep it even. Keep turning as you go till you reach the proper thickness. Some people like to use a belt sander but by hand on a flat surface, I find I can keep it more even overall. The bronze thrust washers are sold in a stock thickness as a base to start with.

Or use the Fun Projects adjustable pinion bearing and move the pinion forward.

Mark is right, remove material from the thrust washer to increase the gap in the ring gear and pinion gear.

I used orbital sander and a jig with some screws in it.

The thrust washer should be set up to provide the right clearance in the assembly so that the ring gear and axles do not shift back and forth more than a couple of thousands. The pinion gear teeth should be in the center of the ring gear teeth. This is adjusted by adding or removing gaskets between the main housing and pinion gear bearing housing. It is OK to have no gasket, just use some sealer. The pinion gear should not have any perceptible back and forth movement in the drive shaft assembly. The ring gear clearance is adjusted by a shim between the ring gear and spider gear housing or machining off some of the ring gear. Get the rear end manual from the MTFCA (Lang's part number RM7, $12).

I'm sorry, I did not state that this is a Ruckstell axle. There are no bronze spacer behind the ring gear.

I had a similar situation on my Ruckstell build and added three paper gaskets on the back end of the driveshaft to move the pinion forward. According to the MTFCA Ruckstell book, each shim increases pinion to ring gear gap by 0.005 inches.

https://www.modeltford.com/item/2583G.aspx

Neat trick to hold the bronze washer while 'milling' it.
I'll do that on next rebuild. Thanks James F.

Gary,

Same information applies to the Ruckstell. The rear end should be set up to provide very little axle movement. The gears should mesh with the teeth lining up. You can move the pinion gear out as Mark describes but you will increase the wear because the mesh is not exactly right. Buy the Ruskstell repair manual, published by MTFCA, Lang's part number RX3 for $12. It will be the most important $12 you will spend to repair your axle.

As parts wear the ring gear moves away from the pinion. If the ring is too close to the pinion there are several possibilities. Something is not seated correctly in the assembly, shims that are not needed or wrong size, defective parts. In a Ruckstell there are many places where something may not be right and put the ring gear in the wrong place. Check the shelf in the left housing where the sun gear lock plate must sit flat. Damage here will jack up the whole assembly. Look for burrs on all parts from there to the ring gear. The bronze plate with the bearing on it is known to warp, but usually in the other direction. Still worth checking.

Erik, that is what it turned out to be, a burr where the large ball bearing slides down into the Ruckstell housing. A little work with the Dremel and all is well. Thanks guys, I do have MTFCA Ruckstell repair manual.

Great news. Good luck with the rest of the build.

Gary,

Glad you found the problem. I wonder how the burr got there. I am with Erik, good luck with the rest of the build. I found the repair manual to be a great help when I rebuilt my Ruckstell.

If I ever have to take mine apart again, I'll certainly check that area more carefully instead of just shimming the driveshaft.