Good Day!
"...the i/p was not yet bolted to the engine front cover." HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR!!!!! If I had a dollar for every time I've done something like that...
(on edit) I went back & found the original topic.
"I wonder if there is a ⅛" washer behind the i.p. gear." That's where I would have topped what you did - I'd probably have paid a machine shop to make a spacer, tightened everything down, then wondered why the IP gear ripped the front off the cover (or whatever would happen with the gear now ⅛" in front of the cam gear).
"The mis-match increases the contact stress and messes up the axial load distribution causing edge loading, truncation of the contact elipse and high local stress." I swear he farts equations - I'd give anything to have his mechanical knowledge. 
Blessings!
82 6.2NA K15 4X4 pickup, 4spd man w/ OD, 335K+ "In Rust We Trust" (parked)
95 6.5TD 2500 4X4 pickup, Gear Vendors Aux. OD, > ¼ million miles - gone
95 6.5TD 1500 4X4 3/4T Suburban, Kennedy exhaust, > ¼ million miles
93 6.5TD 3500 4X4 1T crew cab LB pickup, 230k miles
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