ashburg.the stock x ss cases were shimmed WRONG from the factory LOL. They had the shims up against the diff cups, not where they would fix any slop in the crown gear/pinion mesh.I thought they did shim the housings (like they should!) from the factory, but they don't...they only put washer shims on the cups between the cups and the bearings.

The shims need to be between the bearing and the housing - moving the ring gear tight onto the pinion gear

This is evidently why the savage has so many pinion breakage problems (if it hasn't broken, bash on it harder and it will)