Sorry I should have stated why I thought the contact pattern was not right. If you look at both pictures it appears that there is only about 30 percent contact at the tip. Looking at the Cat manuals for D8, 955K, D6, 944 and the one posted by Toby it shows the contact pattern starts a small distance from the toe and continues to about fifty percent of the tooth.It also states that in the information above the image.

PhilC wrote:

Sorry I should have stated why I thought the contact pattern was not right. If you look at both pictures it appears that there is only about 30 percent contact at the tip. Looking at the Cat manuals for D8, 955K, D6, 944 and the one posted by Toby it shows the contact pattern starts a small distance from the toe and continues to about fifty percent of the tooth.It also states that in the information above the image.

Thanks Phil, I did another test of the contact pattern tonight, without as much paint and with less tension on the bevel gear. Pic below, to me it starts just short of the toe and travels almost 50% of the tooth. 
 

Today I had to spend considerable time lapping the back of the locknuts for the steering clutch thrust bearings as I couldn't tighten them down enough to get the locking threads to line up, I got there eventually!
   

The 1/2" x 20 studs/nuts on the bevel bearing caps should be good to around 60 ft.lb. so I'd say torque to 50-ish and then have the ability to advance the nut a little bit for better lock tab alignment, if necessary. Most fasteners that size I usually just tighten by feel because I've done it so many times. Regarding checking the contact patterns on these worn-in gear sets, always remember that the working range of each tooth surface has likely lost a little bit of its original profile, so the toe contact in the non-loaded state will likely drop off quicker as it moves on up the tooth face. You just gotta trust the process in that when loaded, you'll reasonably be replicating what the established contact pattern actually is. The truck differentials I rebuilt for years at the dealership were a lot more straight-forward to contact pattern check, as both the pinion and ring gear were held on a fixed axis by preloaded taper bearings and didn't move around much under load - with those, the pattern you saw when you tested was the same pattern you had when it was operating.

I've been traveling this last week, and my travels took me to the same region of a old ex CAT mechanic who deals in secondhand parts. He had the necessary steering clutch lever spring which he gave me for free!
 

Yesterday I started assembling the steering clutches with the new Bimetallic frictions:
   

I usually drop the drum over the outer splines to make sure they are all aligned properly before clamping up the springs. Nothing worse than trying to fit it with one plate slightly out of alignment.

PhilC wrote:

PhilC post=244396 userid=11059

Thanks Phil, and that's exactly what I did. 

Another day and some great progress. I got the bevel gear shaft caps all torqued down and the locks all in place:
 

And I got the steering clutch linkages levers and yokes all in place: 

Next I installed the steering clutch packs and pressed them on to the splined tapers to 9 tons (the ram is rated to 20tons at 10000psi)
     
I was pleased to see the end of the shaft was still recessed: