So I spent about 8 hours doing a rear end swap but never bothered to look at the ring gear before. Got the whole rear axle assy with locking diff at the wrecking yard.

Got home, installed and when I went to remove the diff cover found the broken tooth. The chip itself was not in the pan, and the oil looked old. There was minimal shavings, no worsethan any other I've seen. The chip is in the outer most part and looks like its been there for a while. Pinion gear and all other teeth are really nice.

So question is, looking at the picture, is that part of the tooth critical? I feel nothing and see nothing else wrong. I'm thinking of just running it like this until (IF) I hear something and then take it in for a gear change.

Any thoughts?

pics here http://www.putfile.com/pic/8178065

 

run it till it splodes

then buy something better!

 

i had this same problem when i went to install a 3.27 ring pinion in my 9 bolt

same sized small chip. Everyone including the trans guy i go to said go ahead and run it if it doesnt make much contact on the pinion gear tooth. It may make alittle noise if it does contact alittle, but shouldnt be a problem as long as alot of the tooth that contacts the pinion teeth isnt missing.

My chip was on the outter edge of the ring gear and didnt appear to make contact with the pinion so i would have used it....but i ended up just getting another ring and pinion just to be safe.

your chip looks like it could be fine enough to run. just see if it contacts the pinion gear at all and if so, how much does it contact. If its just alittle or not at all, then run it

 

should be fine. If you are worried about it, you could dress it with a die grinder and small bit and just grind it smooth, with the purpose of getting rid of stress risers, eg. sharp edges.

 

I would Toss both the POS Gov loc and the chipped gears. Get your money back. Thats actually a critical area of the gear...they will ROAR.

 

So far the concensus is run it. I checked and it does not contact the pinion on the chip at all, but boy is it close.

I will probably grind it a bit as JWSCAB suggests. It is possible that it was running like this for a while in the Junk Yard vehicle. I guess we'll see.

As for just scrapping it and buying something ese, I'm currentyly un-employed and trying to do this on a tight budget of $0 more than I have to spend, so thats noit really an objet, hence the reason for this post.

Time will tell.
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So FLYIN89, you offering to buy me somethin better?

Anyhow, the entire cost of the rear axle was $35, it would cost me more in gas to return it. Guess we will run it and see if it makes noise or not. If it does I'll drop by Randy's Ring and Pinion as they are right down the street from me.

Thanks

 

Well that seems to be what your budget allows.

Just remember when it gets a little annoying you can always tell the passengers "You set it up so you could play Name That Tune on the go."

 

Check it really close and make sure there aren't any hairline cracks coming out of it (think stone chip in your windshield here).. if there are any, the stress of driving could make it progressively worse and eventually fail. If you don't see anything though, I wouldn't worry too much. In the 9/10bolt rear ends, the ring/pinion gears is never the part that fails first anyway.

 

OK, next question, seems this R&P is a 3.42, and what I took out was a non G80 3.73. So whats involved in swapping the R&P? I'd rather have my 3.73 back anyhow.

Seems the rings are the same size (width) so the carrier series should be good for both those ratios.

Is it simple? I DOUBT IT, since it not even covered in te Haynes, Chiltons, or factory manuals.


Thanks

 

 

swapping gearsets is kind of involved. you can use the 3.73s on the new carrier (same series gearsetbut),but, you will need to reset the gears just like a new set, actually, it can be sometimes tougher because they've already been run in.

your best bet is to find a guy who knows how to do this.

check out such places as richmond gear and randys ring and pinion for details on setting up a gearset. it involves the correct pinion shimming, and carrier shimming to get both gears to mesh correctly.

this one does rank up there in difficulty.

 

all you need now is the 3.73 Ring/pinion gears and they will fit on the 3.42 posi/differential that you have now. swapping them is kinda involved.. getting the old gears out isnt a problem, just getting them in you have to make sure you set it up right. You have to get the contact pattern right or else you'll whine too much or risk breaking something

i had a local tranny/rear end shop do mine. thats the thing im not quite confortable in doing. i actually have a old set of 2.77 gears and 9 bolt housing laying around, i should practice on that to learn

 

Yeah, thats what I figured. Guess I'll let the pro's do it. I will carefully run the chipped one for now until I can save enough (currently un-employed) and let Randy's do it. They are only about 4 miles from me in Everett, had I known about the tooth before the swap I could have just taken both rear ends to them. Now it's under the van and the engine if halfway out getting ready for a 350 install.

As always there is a wealth of knowledge here

 

Also just found this tip at Randy's R&P

Fixing a chipped Pinion Gear
http://www.ringpinion.com/TipOfTheDay.aspx?TipID=9

I guess this would apply to the ring as well.

 

The one thing I hate when looking through message board posts is no feedback or resolution to a problem, so as not to perpetuate the problem further :

Got everything together, took her for as little run around the block after doing the repair I found on Randy's R&P site and behold, no noise. Sounds good and seems to be fine. It may someday explode, but for now, got by on the cheap .

Thanks again for the help and if it blows up I'll post that here as well.

Randy