How's my gear tooth pattern look

I'm doing my first solo ring and pinion swap on a 2012 JK. 4.56 gears in a 30 front and 44 rear. I didn't have any issues setting up the front but the rear is giving me concerns. I used a pinion depth gauge from Summit Racing and dial indicator to measure backlash. All seems to spec.
Take a look at the gear tooth pattern in the pics and let me know what you think. It doesn't really match any of the patterns in the setup guide.

I'd give it a little more pinion shim and see what happens.

Also thin your paint out with a little gear oil, it'll help it wipe away and leave a clearer pattern...

^I'd read that several times and didn't really think it would make that much difference, but the other day I was setting up a HP Toyota front with used gears and was having a hard time reading a decent pattern, I squeezed some gear paint in a shot glass and added about 1/3 parts gear oil, made it paint a lot nicer and read easier.

funny, I am of the opposite opinion on what to move than TBItoy. I think your pinon depth looked fine but you need to move the pattern a little closer to the root if the ring gear. It would be my suggestion to add shim to the driver side and remove shim from the passenger. What are your backlash numbers at now?
Perhaps we can get a couple more people to post up and suggest you remove pinion shims and add shims to the passenger side to really help you out.

I do agree with thinning the markign paint with gear oil. It makes a huge difference. I will also use something like a pry bar to put pressure on the ring gear while I rotate the set with the pinion yoke to get a better pattern imprint.

Backlash is at .008" right now. I will definitely try thinning the paint and both shim suggestions.

Backlash is good, Let us know what works to fix the issue. Keep in mind also that not all gears will give a perfect pattern as some of the pattern has to do with the gear cut and no amount of set up will change that.

I ended up removing 0.015" shim and adjusted backlash and it straightened right out. Thinning the paint with gear oil made a huge difference. Took it for a test drive and it did great. He can take off in third gear in 4 low. Will be a perfect match for the 35s he's got coming.

yankster said:

I ended up removing 0.015" shim and adjusted backlash and it straightened right out. Thinning the paint with gear oil made a huge difference. Took it for a test drive and it did great. He can take off in third gear in 4 low. Will be a perfect match for the 35s he's got coming.

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Where did you remove the shim from, pinion or carrier?

Lil ugly said:

Where did you remove the shim from, pinion or carrier?

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Pinion