Hello Chris,
I used tapered bearings (sourced locally) for the pinion shaft on the last 2 diffs I rebuild. Some shimming is required with tapered bearings but no machining necessary when using the thick shims.
See Roger Furneaux’s manual here;
https://fromtheframeup.com/uploads/TT_C ... Set_Up.pdf Roger can supply the proper shims as well as the tapered bearings or (I believe) supply the Original bearings if you want to go that route.
I also found this in my Diff Files:
Tapered Roller Bearings for Diff
Bob Grunau date: 18.05.1998
subject: Re: MG TC Crown and Pinion
All bearings numbers are FAG or Timken Tapered Roller bearings:
Pinion front - 62 mm x25 mm x25.25mm thick- #32305
Pinion rear - 62mm x 25mm x 18.25 mm thick- #30305
Carrier , 72mm x35mm x 18.25 mm thick- #30207 ( 2 required ).
Replacement of the carrier bearings is straight forward, just install the
tapered rollers and set up the pre-load and clearance by the book.
The pinion bearings are a bit more involved. First because the rear tapered
roller is 18.25mm thick, where the original flat roller was 17mm thick,
therefore you need to move the pinion bearing carrier housing FORWARD
1.25mm, or machine a 1.25mm deeper groove in the housing so the new tapered
roller bearing seats 1.25mm further forward. The key thing is to keep the
rear of the rear bearing, and therefore the pinion head, in the same
location relative to the crown wheel. I used an additional 0.050" shim
under the pinion carrier and then made fine adjustments of the pinion
location.
Second, you need to preload the pinion bearings by changing the length of
the spacer between the bearings. The Y book calls for 5 to 6 inch pounds
pre-load on the bearings when the flange nut is tight. The TD pre-load is
11 to 13 inch pounds or 1 foot-pound preload.
I used the Y recommended preload of 5 to 6 inch pounds.
I would recommend getting a reference measurement of the pinion location
BEFORE disturbing the original bearings. Then, you can set the pinion in
the same location using the tapered rollers.
This is not a 5 minute job, but if done correctly should end up with a much
stronger gear set.
Bob
Hope some of this will be of use.
Regards, Bill Davis