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Quality of Ring and Pinion companies in 2023?

frickn yahoo said:
Ive used a couple US Standard's with no problems. I believe all gears would be fine, assuming the are set up right and broken in properly.
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Same here.

Not to mention if you order USA Standard, there is a good chance they send you Yukon anyway. That happened on the last 14 bolt stuff I ordered.
 
Yeah I heard a certain QC Restrait for Yukon and one for USA standard. The Yukon is a tighter constraint so the gear is better than USA Standard but same material and gear mfg. Some have a circle around a K which is one mfg and another has a different logo and i don't remember what that one was.
 
Looked last night and found some Richmond 9" gears on Amazon for $185, they are $250+ on Summit so I assume fake...

Closer inspection it seems like those are the stockish replacement gears not they "good" stuff.
 
MigGunslinger id have to tear my diff cover off to see if the gears are marked. I’ll probably remember this conversation next time I replace gear oil.
 
CarterKraft said:
Looked last night and found some Richmond 9" gears on Amazon for $185, they are $250+ on Summit so I assume fake...

Closer inspection it seems like those are the stockish replacement gears not they "good" stuff.
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I bought genuine Dana OEM JK D44 4.56 ring and pinions for like $75 off Amazon. Cheaper doesn't always means fake.

by the way aftermarket pack their ring & pinion way better than USA made Dana/Spicer OEM. :confused:
 
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TrailTamer said:
by the way aftermarket pack their ring & pinion way better than USA made Dana/Spicer OEM. :confused:
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Crazy ain’t it? A box with the ring gear just flopping around and then the pinion in a smaller box just flopping around.

I had to throw out a set of OE Dana gears because the pinion munched through its little box and beat the hell out of itself and the ring gear.
 
RunningProblem said:
MigGunslinger id have to tear my diff cover off to see if the gears are marked. I’ll probably remember this conversation next time I replace gear oil.
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There should be a pinion depth measurement engraved on the top of the pinion and a backlash measurement on the ring gear. This makes setting up the gears with a pinion depth tool way easier obviously, but more importantly it is a sign that the gears were set up in a test rig and an acceptable pattern was achieved. If you are setting up gears with the FAFO meathod it's not really a deal breaker, From what I understand OEM gears do not come with measurements on them (someone correct me if I'm wrong.)

The fit between the pinion and the yoke was the real issue with that gearset.
 
MigGunslinger

Stock pinion from my 1979 Ford Sterling 10.25. No markings on the pinion to tell me depth. Stolen from my build thread. It doesn’t explain the scoring or tooth damage.

If OEM doesn’t do it why would aftermarket do it? Just because someone wrote a number on the pinion doesn’t mean anything. No one checked the guys work. There isn’t any detailed information to prove it. I could simply etch a number on here and a +/- sign then sell it. Next guy would think the number is right. When I stopped expecting other people to do work for me I started to realize other people don’t give a fuck about their work or how frustrated I might be setting up gears.

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RunningProblem said:
If OEM doesn’t do it why would aftermarket do it?
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Because the OEMs have incredibly expensive proprietary machines and 120+ years experience in manufacturing and setting up hypoid gears.

The pinion depth measurement engraved on the pinion is still just a starting point so it is not as if you rely on it to the exclusion of all else.

I have a pinion depth tool if you ever need to borrow it. It gets you really close to the finish line right out of the gate.
 
MigGunslinger said:
Because the OEMs have incredibly expensive proprietary machines and 120+ years experience in manufacturing and setting up hypoid gears.

The pinion depth measurement engraved on the pinion is still just a starting point so it is not as if you rely on it to the exclusion of all else.

I have a pinion depth tool if you ever need to borrow it. It gets you really close to the finish line right out of the gate.
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The OEMs are making both the housings and the axles so they have no need to stamp shit so long as they can otherwise keep track of what's what to ensure that when a pinion goes in it goes in with the right shim to get it where it needs to be.

What the aftermarket does with a stamp and OEM assembly line would do more cheaply with a color code, bar code, sticker, tag etc.
 
arse_sidewards said:
The OEMs are making both the housings and the axles so they have no need to stamp shit so long as they can otherwise keep track of what's what to ensure that when a pinion goes in it goes in with the right shim to get it where it needs to be.

What the aftermarket does with a stamp and OEM assembly line would do more cheaply with a color code, bar code, sticker, tag etc.
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Yep..when I worked for Federal-Mogul making engine bearings, we had to have our specs accurate enough for each part number that the engine assemblers never needed to stop and verify them beforehand. They just assembled everything and then tested it afterwards. If the engine seized or failed the torque-to-turn after assembly, they would then tear it apart and find where the issue was. Whichever company had the issue would then be responsible for paying a bunch of penalties for their lost time and materials.

When we made aftermarket parts, the quality control wasn't as strict, even thought it was literally the same tooling and raw materials as the OEM parts, just with a different part number and branding stamp swapped out in the press.

Funny enough, there were numerous times companies would flip the fuck out when their engine seized and try to blame us for it when it wasn't our fault. Turns out those big OEM's, especially Ford, had no fucking clue what they were doing half the time.
 
wvjeepguy81 said:
Funny enough, there were numerous times companies would flip the fuck out when their engine seized and try to blame us for it when it wasn't our fault. Turns out those big OEM's, especially Ford, had no fucking clue what they were doing half the time.
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No need to know WTF you're doing when your a big automotive OEM and can wave your dick around and get the suppliers to pick up the slack for you.
 
For those of you using Spicer gears, are the SVL gears worth anything? They are suspiciously cheap but carry some configurations that the spicer brand does not.
 
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No one said Nitro gears. I ran a set of 5.13s in the 14B of my rig and beat on it relentlessly for 9+ years before it chipped a couple teeth. I now run their 10" gear in the front of a super duty 60. No problems so far there. I wanted to run them again in my tundra up front but didnt have any in stock. I went with Motive and so far so good there as well.

Ive broken 3+ front LP dana 60 yukon sets, but they have all been covered under their warranty. I wont run them again. Gearworks gear sets are going in my new buggy and i believe they are made by Us Gear?
 
RunningProblem said:
MigGunslinger



If OEM doesn’t do it why would aftermarket do it? Just because someone wrote a number on the pinion doesn’t mean anything.
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Those markings are to get you in the ball park, it's not to be taken as truth.
The markings also show a quality person was involved. As a LOT of gear makers are just reboxers, the markings showed someone set them up in a machine and looked at them.
Sure you just slap numbers on a gear and fool everyone, but that does not seem like a good long term idea.
 
welndmn said:
Those markings are to get you in the ball park, it's not to be taken as truth.
The markings also show a quality person was involved. As a LOT of gear makers are just reboxers, the markings showed someone set them up in a machine and looked at them.
Sure you just slap numbers on a gear and fool everyone, but that does not seem like a good long term idea.
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This is why I ignored them and followed the instructions I read online. Bearing preload for the pinion, and adjust according to the pattern.


With this said, I have no complaints about USA gears. They don’t seem noisy, they are the only gears I ever setup, and they seemed to be a consistent pattern (front and rear axles) when I checked after adjustments.
 
MigGunslinger said:
For those of you using Spicer gears, are the SVL gears worth anything? They are suspiciously cheap but carry some configurations that the spicer brand does not.
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The SVL line is spicers china line. They are cheap because quality is lower. People bitch about them on the internet but, I've never installed a set so can't confirm.




The OEM's might not mark their proprietary stuff but, every Spicer gear has markings for pinion depth. Yukon and USA standard don't. I would rather adjust .002" up or down if necessary than play the +/- game 5 times trying to zero in a decent pattern. If you like pulling carriers out repeatedly, more power to you. You always start with your original stack anyway, the numbers just make it faster. When you're a tech, that's pretty nice.
 
MigGunslinger said:
For those of you using Spicer gears, are the SVL gears worth anything? They are suspiciously cheap but carry some configurations that the spicer brand does not.
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"The drivetrain aftermarket demands a quality product option for applications that do not require genuine original-equipment performance specifications," said Bill Gryzenia, vice president and general manager of Dana's Aftermarket Group.
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"Operators of older, less frequently used vehicles are seeking value pricing from a trusted source with consistent quality and reliability," Gryzenia said.
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gozuki said:
Then their marketing is spot on. Yukon does not make any gears themselves. Many Yukon gears (most?) I know are repackaged blems from China and India or they are discarded by manufacturers with stricter QC.
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Not to name names but multiple higher end companies have told me everything yukon comes from India now.

As far as strength and quality goes, ECGS told me that dana/ spicer produces the best gear sets if they make what you need.
 
I have a similar issues, but it always slightly to the toe (inside) on drive and perfectly centered in coast. Last one i did that had noise was 2019 and it was the Cheap Oreilly Power torque brand. I use USA and Yukon only (from Randys) since then and never had a noise problem or failure issue. I only do about 6-10 diff rebuilds a year.
Stokes said:
The last dozen or so Yukon gear sets I have installed for customers had patterns that where acceptable towards the heal which bummed me out from a strength standpoint.

Much of the gear install groups talk highly of Revolution gears. I have no personal experience with them, but I would personally consider other options than Yukon/USA gear. that is, if you can; supply can still be a real issue for some axles.
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