[blykins]

Use the solid pinion spacer.

You want a certain amount of drag on the pinion bearings. To get that drag, you do a trial and error of solid spacer shims. When you get it to where you want it, then you just torque down the pinion nut.

This is 100 times easier than using a crush sleeve, where you have to put a tremendous amount of torque on the pinion nut to crush the sleeve....then if you go too far, you have to start all over again with a new sleeve.

Also, if something happens and you have to change a pinion seal or something like that, you just take it apart and put it back together without worrying about having to use a new crush sleeve.

To set it up, you put the solid spacer in between the bearings and tighten it down. Measure rotating drag (preload) and adjust with shims as needed. It's very simple and straight forward.