Lay shaft bending issues

[thunderbolt61]

Experts,

When running my rampage xt, I am having issues with the gearbox drive gears locking up. I had the original plastic gear plate bust and I replaced it with a 7075RC gearplate with new bearings. As I take apart the drive gearbox assembly, my first observation is that I notice that the nuts have tightened themselves against the gears locking them up. When reassembling this gearbox in the past, I have only ever "snugged" down the nut onto the gear and have made sure the gears turn freely. So I decided to use a dial indicator on the lay shafts to see if they were bent or not, and they were .004" out. This will be my 3rd set of lay shafts for this............ What am I missing, and what am I doing wrong? Should I try a different gear plate?

 

[Ol' fart]

You should be able to tighten up all the nuts without locking up the gears. Take a look at the first gear, the clutch one. If the square drive part is too thick it will bend up when you tighten up the nut.. take some off ( sand or file) on the side with the raised ring until it no longer bends up when tight..

Ol' fart