Ford 8.8, 31 spline with 4.10s on a truetrac. My drive pattern looks awesome but coast side is very toe. Both sides sit nicely with respect to root/top land, which leads me to believe my backlash is acceptable.
I think it'll be okay, but looking for some opinions.

.020 pinion shim,
.0105 backlash




Drive side



Coast side. Nice contact, but very toe.

 

Bump!

 

IMO, I would say the pinion is just a bit too close to the carrier. I'd start with pulling out a .005" shim and see how the pattern looks. You're close to being perfect though. The coast side isn't as important as the drive for the rear axle but you have to think about those times you might need to hammer down in reverse if you're stuck. A few minutes to make an adjustment may save that rear diff from a grenade.

Great work though! Gearing is a PITA and it's nice to see someone getting in there and putting the work in.

 

Pretty sure Carl has had experience breaking teeth when hammering down in reverse (trans tooth, however), so I definitely understand why he would want this to be right

 

hahaha yeah that's me. im running out of space on my desk for new paper weights. I can't believe you remembered that lol!

 

Lol well I certainly hope you don't destroy a ring and pinion! Post up some more pattern pics if you do decide to pull a shim or two. I'm curious to see how much shim was removed to get a better contact on the coast side.