What would you do? Chipped Ring Gear Teeth UPDATE SEE LAST POST

storeman

storeman

Known by Few
Joined
Mar 8, 2007
Location
Whiteville nc
I was just going to check the OX cable for adjustment and install a lube locker gasket , But I found this surprise . Should I continue to run it? I have one more big wheeling trip this year to
Dixie Run . I was thinking of having it fixed after that trip. I have done SYE's and Tera Low but
never gear work plus have no tools for such work. What would cause this?

Specs
Dana 44
4.56
OX Locker
 

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Could be improper setup of r&p. Pinion could be shallow when contacting the ring gear. When loaded or stressed it chipped tooth. I would fix it...if it gets worst or breaks more teeth off it could grenade and do more damage..put a hole in axle housing , destroy locker, if you drive this jeep on the road..its hell at hwy speeds to have a rear end lock up. You don't wana hurt yourself or others.

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Shock loading would be my first guess for the cause.does it make noise when you drive it I would guess not if you were just checking your locker.do you daily drive it or is it trail only and do you tow it to the trails. If you tow it I might would run it for one trip just get all the chunks out.honestly im not a gear expert and I wouldn't take my word on this let's see what the more experienced crowd has to say
 
FYI It is not a trail only rig but not a DD either. I have not even thought of lock up on the highway. I trailer to location. I have no
way of knowing how long it has been like this except about 4 years ago right after I went to 33 inch tires I got skinny pedal happy
on the ledge just before Kodak Rock and bounced about 4 or 5 times on my left rear tire than SNAP went one 44 oem axle twisted
splines on the other. It took out a 80.00 part on the ox locker and wedged the carrier in so tight the guy had a time getting it out
There were no chipped teeth at that time but I am sure they got stressed than. Since than I have been better about bouncing.
bouncing is expensive.
 
I'd roll with it....BUT....now that you've seen the damage and if something were to happen, you'd be pretty upset that you didn't just fix it to start with.

There's all sorts of things that could happen. Blow the guts out of the rear cover, bust the housing, candy cane a driveshaft, tear up the transfer case, etc, etc. A set of gears isn't that expensive in the long run.
 
Is that discoloration in the center of the gear tooth gear oil or the wear on the face. If its rough to the touch, scored, or worse you can get your fingernail to catch on it you got some serious gauling occurring and are very near a big failure. Was the gear oil very dark are burnt smelling? Maybe its the light but the pattern of wear locks pretty odd to me. The surface almost looks like chatter marks and heat damage. A gear in good shape should almost look polished or honed along the pattern are like a worn bearing race with no chatter marks, color changes, or unusual high and low areas.
 
WARRIORWELDING said:
Is that discoloration in the center of the gear tooth gear oil or the wear on the face. If its rough to the touch, scored, or worse you can get your fingernail to catch on it you got some serious gauling occurring and are very near a big failure. Was the gear oil very dark are burnt smelling? Maybe its the light but the pattern of wear locks pretty odd to me. The surface almost looks like chatter marks and heat damage. A gear in good shape should almost look polished or honed along the pattern are like a worn bearing race with no chatter marks, color changes, or unusual high and low areas.
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The Gear oil was Black It did not really smell that different. Could not hear anything on the road. These gears have about 12 ,000
miles of road and wheeling over a 7 year period. I zoomed in on the Pics some

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the edges of the gear aren't (tips where the chips are) that important with a real good ideal pattern. The load carrying area is centered on the drive and coast side of the tooth (flat concave and convex sides). Those are the areas that we need a better look at. Some chipped teeth can run along time if the gear meshing surface is good. Take a roloc and clean up the chipped edges to relieve stress risers to slow further cracking. Check the pinion gear closely its thinner in profile and easier to chip bigger chunks. If the actual wear surfaces aren't bad and THE PATTERN IS IN THE RIGHT PLACE clean it up real good and run it (short term for wheeling). Pics from an angle which you can see the drive and coast patterns better would help. IF you take better shots clean it up good with brake cleaner first to keep oily residue from distorting the pattern.
 
Who does good Gear Work ? I live 50 miles west of Wilmington NC off Hwy 74
 
i would fix it or get it fix that is just looking for a bad day
just my .02
 
East Coast Gear Supply is the closest that I know of. I honestly don't know squat about where your from. Chase and his crew do probably some of the highest volume of R and P work in the Carolinas.
 
I have talked to a shop in Wilmington
That I have used one time before for a front pinion
Bearing He said he could knock it out late next week. I will b lucky
Though to get 250 miles on it before my trip
 
update I just got my jeep back from the gear shop. I don't have any pictures of the pinyon because he had already thrown in to scrap pile . He said there
were no broke teeth on it so he nor I could not tell it from all the others and b sure . I remembered what the ring gear looked like and found it.
I took some more pictures for you detectives out there. The shop guy thinks there could have been some debris left in there from when I broke
my axle shaft a few years back. It was a violent brake right near the end of the splined part and also damaged my OX Locker but who knows. He
is not the one that was in there last time. I doubt there were more than 10000 miles on those gears as I only drive it a few times a month in
the summer and wheeling.
 

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That almost looks like it had some porosity in the metal. What brand were those gears?
 
Croatan_Kid said:
That almost looks like it had some porosity in the metal. What brand were those gears?
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I think they are Yukon if I remember right I no I have so Yukon stickers around the shop and I no they came from Randy RP
 
shawn said:
I'm far from an expert... but those gear faces look like crap. My money says it was a bad setup the first time around.
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This...
 
Much better pics, the reason those gears look like that is exactly a bad set up. That's heat damage. The reason they look porous is because metal really is grainy when viewed in a metallurgist scope(even when polished). The only reason it looks smooth is from refinement from a machining action (cutting, grinding, honing, milling, ext.) Your seeing heat annealing and the hardened face of the gear being eroded away. A gear is not through hardened, if it was it would never survive shock loads and abuse. That's why a Cryogenic treated gear failure is usually catastrophic and completely fubar. Its been more through hardened and loses a lot of ductility and toughness. At place where my Uncle works I got to see them heat treat gears. They used to flame harden quench in oil and furnace heat sink process to anneal them slightly. Now they induction harden the surfaces. BTW they also hob mill the teeth with ZERO cutting fluid or coolant! They have the cut path, chip load, and travel down to such a science that most all the heat is dissipated in the chip and carried away from the part. He said it saved them boat loads in fluids, disposal of waste, and equipment for cooling.
 
The guy that did it last time is no longer in business. He had done good work for me before . this is why if I can fix it myself or
in my network of friends I do.

any way I think I will take it back to the gear guy in about 1000 miles to check everything
 
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