489 pinion bearing install?

fishy68 said
....... I keep an old (but good) bearing handy that's been whittled out a little.......

LOL. I was thinking about wallering the front bearing enough for it to lightly tap down, and just running with it that way!

By waller, I mean hone it out with a brake cylinder hone. I was worried that if I have hammer it on (or use the nut to draw it home) if I have to hammer if back apart, I'd dent up the races.

I gave the threads and the bearing journal hell with a drill & wire wheel, and deburred the edge with a stone. Dressed it lightly with a diamond file, and didn't find any high spots.

I have honed out an extra new rear bearing to minimize pressing it on and off. The old bearings, with a little wallering sure make good tools for tapping down the new bearing cups.

Thanks alot guys.
PH

ps is it true the factory just looked up the gear ratio, picked the right shim off the chart, and just put them together? Can I really just throw in a 0.015" shim for 3.23 gear, and hope to be close, as claimed in June 2010 CarCraft? I saw a July 2011 Mopar Muscle article about measuring pinion depth, but there aren't any dimensions on my gears.