Putting an ho52 back together today. Got fresh carrier bearings, pinion seal and pinion bearing. Am trying to make sense of how the pinion bearing is secured in the housing. With the same amount of shims in the barrel as before teardown, i can get the backlash and gear pattern really close. Only problem is the pinion cap has about a sixteenth gap between the differential housing, which would create a challenge to seal it up. Changing shims directly changes the gap obviously. With no shims in, the gap is almost closed but that compromises backlash and pattern. Is that space supposed to be there for a gasket? Would make sense to me that the cap is flat to the housing and the shoulder on the cap that touches the bearing race has a slight amount of gap between the race. Likely did a horrible job of explaining that so I can include pictures or a diagram if necessary.
