Setting up gears in an 8-3/4

Ok I bought everything new to rebuild my 742 case 8-3/4 including a clutch kit for the sure grip, all new bearings, and a gear set. No problem rebuilding the sure grip but I've ran into a problem getting the right pattern on the gears. BTW: Their Motive Gears brand.

I don't have a pinion depth setting gauge but I figured since the bearing cap meets the housing in the center it should be close enough to lay a straight edge on and measure to the pinion for the initial run. First time I set it right to the number on the pinion (1.715) then installed the carrier and set backlash to .009-.010 then spun it a few times to make sure everything was seated in and rechecked the backlash and touched it up a little. Smeared on some checking paint and spun it a few times. It was way off. The pinion was way too far away so I pressed it back apart and added a .010 shim and put it all back together blah, blah, blah. Greased it up and checked it again. This time it looked alot better. In fact the drive pattern wasn't bad at all but the coast pattern was too close to the toe. Hmmm... So I pressed it all back apart again and shimmed it another .010 put it back together blah, blah, blah. Greased it and checked the pattern again. The coast side looks some better but still not deep enough. The Drive pattern is right on the money. If I shim it more the drive pattern will start going too far towards the toe I think.

I attached some pics. Didn't take any pics of the initial test cause it was way off. The first pic is the drive side with .087 shim an 2nd pic is coast side with same shim.

The 3rd pic is the drive side with .097 shim and 4th pic is coast side with .097

What do you 3rd member guru's think? Should I shim it more or is ok where it's at. If it was a 5 minute job I'd try more shim but since I have to press it all back apart and then back together again I thought I'd ask here first and see what you guys think. I don't want to hurt anything and preferably have no gear noise. The only thing that makes me hesitate on adding more shim is the fact the drive side looks real good.

Thanks, Tracy