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Did I destroy my gears???

sixstringsteve

sixstringsteve

Well-Known Member
Location
UT
Last week my diff leaked most of its fluid out in Moab. We had a spill kit and cleaned it all up, but we had to limp it back off the trail. I only went about half a mile, and we kept putting fluid in it periodically.

I got my third out tonight, and there are scratches on the ring and pinion gears. Do you think I'm going to run into problems if I run it like this? Should I replace my gears? thoughts?

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It's tough to get a good pic of the pinion

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spencurai

spencurai

Purple Burglar Alarm
Location
WVC,UT
Front or rear? I am assuming rear?

If it is the front, run it...

If it is the rear...run it. Put some really good synthetic in it, maybe try a break-in procedure for new gears and just take it easy for a couple hundred miles, no towing, no long steep canyons, no side stepping the clutch, just take it easy then pull it and take a look again and hope it cuts back in.

I cannot see that it is rainbow discolored so it should be ok if you take it easy for a while.
 
I Lean

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
Vendor
Location
Utah
I'd run 'em.

Think of it this way...if they're junk, you'll only be out some gear oil and some labor if you try them and they fail. If they're good, then you've saved yourself a bunch of parts and labor. :)
 
sixstringsteve

sixstringsteve

Well-Known Member
Location
UT
Thanks for the info everyone. I'm glad you saw this Carl, I was hoping you'd chime in.

They're my rear gears. My main concern was grinding them into dust and getting metal shavings in my bearings and locker, but it sounds like that's not a huge concern.

I'll put some good oil in, then drain it in 500 miles or so.
 
I Lean

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
Vendor
Location
Utah
The locker shouldn't be hurt by any metal, and if these gears are bad then the bearings will be too, so you'll replace them when you replace the gears. It's worth the risk to try to run these, in any case.
 
SLC97SR5

SLC97SR5

IDIesel
Location
Davis County
Looks good from here Steve. Out of curiosity, does it have a solid pinion spacer?
It sounds like while you were limping it home it never got warm or heavily loaded. Gear oil is an extreme pressure lubrricant and is made to cling to meshing surfaces. I would be very suprised if the film ever got compromised enough to shear and allow spalling or fretting between teeth.
 
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Max Power

Max Power

Bryce
Location
Sandy
The scratches look pretty superficial to me. I agree on some fresh gear oil in a few hundred miles. If there were metal shavings odds are they leaked out with the gear oil that continued to leak on your way out. My guess is if you look at the gears in a couple months the scratches will ge gone. Another thing to check would be to turn the pinion flange with your hand and see if it turns smoothly without catching or hanging up. If it hangs up you might have a bad bearing.
 
Greg

Greg

I run a tight ship... wreck
Admin
Location
Grand Junction, CO
If you don't have one already, toss a magnet into the housing, to pick up any left over metal and keep it out of the gears.

I really like the Lucas Oil gear lube, it has a nice sticky consistancy. Perhaps a quart of Lucas in the diff to keep things well lubed.
 
kmboren

kmboren

Recovering XJ owner anonymous
Location
Southern Utah
Not to Hijack this thread but how does one break in new gears. I will be placing some new gears in a rubicon 44 front and do not want to ruin them. I was not aware that there was a break in period. My rig sees some driving but mostly to and from trails.
 
sixstringsteve

sixstringsteve

Well-Known Member
Location
UT
SLC97SR5 said:
Looks good from here Steve. Out of curiosity, does it have a solid pinion spacer?
It sounds like while you were limping it home it never got warm or heavily loaded. Gear oil is an extreme pressure lubrricant and is made to cling to meshing surfaces. I would be very suprised if the film ever got compromised enough to shear and allow spalling or fretting between teeth.
Click to expand...

It has a solid pinion spacer.


Dillon.Powers said:
yeah as long as you don't see really bad pitting or chipped teeth they should be alright to run. little surface scratches wont hurt anything.
Click to expand...

It looks pitted to me, but I don't really know what "bad" pitting looks like vs what I've got now.



Greg said:
If you don't have one already, toss a magnet into the housing, to pick up any left over metal and keep it out of the gears.

I really like the Lucas Oil gear lube, it has a nice sticky consistancy. Perhaps a quart of Lucas in the diff to keep things well lubed.
Click to expand...

Great suggestions. I had a large manet jb welded inside the diff, and on the fill plug. I didn't see any metal on the actual gears, so I'm thinking the magnets did their job. I'll try the lucas stuff, sounds like a good product.
 
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