Just sharing a learning point and hoping to keep others from doing the same. I guess about this time a year or so ago, I rebuilt the rear end of my dana 35 due to some vibrations. The motive 4.88s that I had been running for the last 7ish years that pull 33x11.50s were in pristine shape and had handled their fair share of abuse. The bearings, on the other hand, were a little fussy. No big deal, complete bearing overhaul and we were backing to setting up the gears again. Upon reinstalling the bearing caps, I noticed a bit of a fuss before the caps "fell" into place. (They fell into place with an impact coercing them.) Anyways, literally I was good with what I saw. The marking compound tracked great and looked flawless. A test drive later and I noticed a bit of a noise in the rear end but nothing out of the ordinary when you add fresh bearings to worn gears. Fast forward a year or better, after many miles of road and wheeling adventures. I begin to pull off from a red light in second gear and hear a bang in the rear end. I immediately pull over and have it trailered home. When I pull the rear diff cover, my left hand bearing cap bolts had backed out and allowed one cap bolt to break. This chewed up my ring gear pretty badly. Anyways, after ordering a fresh r&p gear and a master rebuild kit, I'll be back on the road soon enough. The point of this post is to notice the orientation of my bearing caps. You have a thick shoulder and a thin shoulder side of the cap. All the photos I've seen online show the thick shoulder to go towards the inside of the diff. Also, if you'll notice, there are actually orientation marks on the bearing caps and face of the diff cover mating surface. Mine were stamped with an "H" on the left side and the same "H" (but rotated 90 degrees) on the right side. These bearing caps should correspond with the markings on the diff face. I don't know if I had gotten in a hurry upon reinstall years ago or what, but this makes since now. See the attached pictures of how my diff currently sits (THE INCORRECT WAY.) When my parts come in, I'll orientate the caps in the correct position which will then get the shoulders in the same position as all the others that I've seen. Stupid mistake on my part. Pay attention when taking your diffs apart!
