DF140 Gearcase shims

[flspectra]

04 DF140
Found water in the lower unit lube, traced it to a faulty pinion (drive) shaft seal. Noticed a good bit of side to side play (and end play) in the pinion drive shaft prior to removal. Have disassembled and begun the rebuild with new bearings. Varied Forward gear shim and found tooth contact unacceptable with anything larger than +.1 mm over stock and still had high (but better) pinion shaft end play. I increased the pinion shaft shim 0.2 mm and now end play is in spec (but not by a lot). I am afraid to increase any of the shims further.

Am I missing some other cause of the increase pinion shaft end play? I did notice some small pitting on the pinion gear near the middle of the concave gear face but overall gears look good.

Assembled unit and pressurized gear case. No leaks unless I apply a side load to the pinion shaft, deflecting the seal, then I can force the new seals to leak.

Going nuts! Any help appreciated.
Chuck

[boats.net]

Is both reverse and forward back-up shim adjustment within specs, if both out then pinion shim is not right.

[flspectra]

I apologize, I may not understand your question. If I understand the process correctly, the forward and reverse gear shims are selected to obtain in spec pinion gear/shaft end play AND maintain proper gear contact pattern. The current shims get both the forward and reverse gear contact pattern and resulting pinion shaft end play in spec. But even with it in spec, there is more side to side play than I would expect. A friend has a high time 2002 DF140 and the pinion shaft in it has very little side to side play. I did notice that for 2004 Suzuki deleted a couple spacers and bevel washer that used to go under the pinion thrust bearing and would seem to keep that tapered roller bearing loaded and centered.

Sorry if I didn't understand. Really appreciate any input.
Chuck

[boats.net]

You adjust pinion shims with special pinion height tool. then after assemble you check forward and reverse gear backlash with dial indicator to see if all within specs, which is all listed in service manual.

[flspectra]

I had the service manual and followed it. All backlash is in spec. Pinion shaft end play is in spec also, yet the side to side play in the shaft seems to be more than I would like. I guess that is normal (since it is in spec). Before I run it as is, and learn the hard way, was hoping to build a little confidence that this is normal.

[boats.net]

Take out and run for a few hours then check gearcase oil for water in oil.