Cracks in ring gear teeth?

[markhuntsville]

Checking out my R&P on my TJ Rubicon 44, we noticed what looks like cracks in the teeth....

Front view - see what looks like hairs on the teeth in the center of the pic;

Back view;

Back view with flash turned on;

Maybe a stupid question, is this something to be concerned about?
Or is it possible it's simply a 'wear mark' from the pinion?

The pinion looks great, nothing on it.. gears are about 8 months old, been wheeled fair amount....

Ideas? (I sent the pics to Alloy for their opinion - I know....)

 

[draggbody]

time bomb...

 

[doctordick]

Wear pattern looks like CRAP!

time bomb...

 

[Dwalk]

Wear pattern looks like CRAP!


X2, gears was setup wrong

 

[markhuntsville]

Yeah, I was worried about the wear pattern... looks like it's too far 'out'...
(FYI - I didn't install the gears personally... but will install the next set)

Alloy probably won't warranty it, so I guess I need to order new R&P.

 

[Elliott]

I would be willing to bet they weren't set up with a pinion depth tool.looks like the gear was way to deep in the ring gear

 

[doctordick]

Regardless of what method you choose to set up gears, Always, Always pattern the gears with marking compound before you put that diff cover on. I don't know any specific numbers, but I'd bet that way over half of all gear failures are due to poor setup. (unless you're a rockbouncer, in which case high HP, huge tires, heavy rig and big air time are more likely) :****:

 

[Elliott]

I never use Marking compound to set up a gear, It will lie to you depending on how much you put in each time and how much pressure you hold on to it with when rotating.if you set a gear by the numbers you won't have a problem, I've never had a gear come back and I've done a **** load

 

[doctordick]

Didn't say to use marking compound to set up gears, just to use it for a final check. I'm a lazy MF'r, I don't like to do things twice and patterning the gears as a final check is just one more way to be sure those gears are gonna run right and last. Been to a few goat ropin's my damself and what works for you is fine with me but there's always more'n one way to skin a cat.

 

[markhuntsville]

The gears were setup by a person that knows what they're doing - replaced factory 4.10 gears with the new 4.88s, used the calculations, etc... pattern check at the end, etc.
I'm pretty sure the pinion depth wasn't actually measured - I was under the impression that when replacing a set of gears, if you do the math, you don't need to actually measure the depth?

Is it possible something has gone wrong with the pinion bearings that caused the 'bad' wear pattern?
The reason I ask this is there is a noise coming from the pinion under load.... haven't pulled the pinion yet, but will when the rain lets up...

 

[Elliott]

You always need to check pinion depth, alot of people try to just reuse the factory shim, out of all the gears I've set up
I've only seen that the case twice. Think about how many gear companies making gears for all of them to make exact dimensioned gears to each other would be impossible always a variance in dimensions. Also one of the biggest problems is people not crushing the crush sleeve right, I've seen some that a 3/4 " impact wouldn't crush, if you didn't know better you would think it's good when it was hammered down, sometimes you have to start them in a hydraulic press and then finish in the housing. Just somethings I've ran into maybe it will help you, not the only way to set them up but it us the correct way and the depth gauge used right will Always be right

 

[Rockwells607]

guess i have to disagree with Elliot on this one, though its hard to be 100% on quality....i have seen several Ford Racing gear sets that fall well within an acceptable tolerance on gear sets from factory tolerances, im sure alot of after market companies are fly by night, but some reputable companies hold true....not sayin its a bad idea to ck everything twice....just sayin