Gear quality and getting a good set-up

[fourgearsavoy]

I've been setting up gears for about 30 years now but lately I have been getting some poor results with the current gear sets. I have to spend more time getting a decent pattern and there is much more compromise between the drive and coast patterns. To get a decent coast pattern I need to put the drive pattern too close to the crown and it's very rare to get a good pattern on both sides of the ring gear.
Anybody else having this issue with new gears? I have an 8 3/4 with a noisy 3.73 gear in it now that I'm probably going to eat the new gear and the labor just to keep the customer happy.

Gus

 

[1 Wild R/T]

In the past twenty years I've probably set up fifty sets of gears in 8.75 pumpkins... I've used US Gear almost exclusively because they always set up quick & easy with a good pattern drive & coast... Last one I set up was probably two years ago, about a year ago I started looking for 3.73 gears for a personal project... Turns out US Gear has stopped making gears for 8.75 axles... I still haven't decided how I'm gonna proceed..

Thirty plus years ago I built pumpkins with Richmond gears, Zoom gears, Yukon gears & lots of other brands... With mixed results... Never great but some were better than others...

I'm at a point if I can't get something I trust I won't be building anymore pumpkins...

 

[YY1]

I'd love to hear what brands are better/ not so good and why.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

I'd love to hear what brands are better/ not so good and why.

It's all about how the pattern comes out & if they run quiet... I beat my stuff some, but not like I would thirty/forty years ago so failure isn't much of an issue but I don't want the gears to make more noise than the engine...

If the drive side comes in & the coast side is out in north field the gears aren't made right... You wind up tweaking the setup to compromise both patterns & hope it's quiet but then you wind up where Gus is... He's looking at eating a **** sandwich for something he has no control of...

 

[Cranky]

I've been setting up gears for about 30 years now but lately I have been getting some poor results with the current gear sets. I have to spend more time getting a decent pattern and there is much more compromise between the drive and coast patterns. To get a decent coast pattern I need to put the drive pattern too close to the crown and it's very rare to get a good pattern on both sides of the ring gear.
Anybody else having this issue with new gears? I have an 8 3/4 with a noisy 3.73 gear in it now that I'm probably going to eat the new gear and the labor just to keep the customer happy.

Gus

In the past twenty years I've probably set up fifty sets of gears in 8.75 pumpkins... I've used US Gear almost exclusively because they always set up quick & easy with a good pattern drive & coast... Last one I set up was probably two years ago, about a year ago I started looking for 3.73 gears for a personal project... Turns out US Gear has stopped making gears for 8.75 axles... I still haven't decided how I'm gonna proceed..

Thirty plus years ago I built pumpkins with Richmond gears, Zoom gears, Yukon gears & lots of other brands... With mixed results... Never great but some were better than others...

I'm at a point if I can't get something I trust I won't be building anymore pumpkins...

It's all about how the pattern comes out & if they run quiet... I beat my stuff some, but not like I would thirty/forty years ago so failure isn't much of an issue but I don't want the gears to make more noise than the engine...

If the drive side comes in & the coast side is out in north field the gears aren't made right... You wind up tweaking the setup to compromise both patterns & hope it's quiet but then you wind up where Gus is... He's looking at eating a **** sandwich for something he has no control of...

I'm having the same problem.....but I might have one more setup in me and those will be for me. I used to test run my setups and then quit and just trusted my setup tool because things were always quiet but the last ones I did for me have a very slight whine between 55-65 and that's about where I do most of my driving these days. The last two setups for others were a rpita but so was that set that has the slight whine. Just glad I'm not the only one having the same issues as I was starting to doubt myself.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

I'm having the same problem.....but I might have one more setup in me and those will be for me. I used to test run my setups and then quit and just trusted my setup tool because things were always quiet but the last ones I did for me have a very slight whine between 55-65 and that's about where I do most of my driving these days. The last two setups for others were a rpita but so was that set that has the slight whine. Just glad I'm not the only one having the same issues as I was starting to doubt myself.

It's not you....

 

[YY1]

It's all about how the pattern comes out & if they run quiet... I beat my stuff some, but not like I would thirty/forty years ago so failure isn't much of an issue but I don't want the gears to make more noise than the engine...

If the drive side comes in & the coast side is out in north field the gears aren't made right... You wind up tweaking the setup to compromise both patterns & hope it's quiet but then you wind up where Gus is... He's looking at eating a **** sandwich for something he has no control of...

Yep, that's what I'm talking about.

It would be nice is those that set them up frequently would report on which brands are more consistent in ease of getting both patterns in a respectable area, and which are not.

It's been decades since I've set one up myself but I believe I could still do it and have one or possibly two I'd like to do in the mid-term future.

 

[Cranky]

Yep, that's what I'm talking about.

It would be nice is those that set them up frequently would report on which brands are more consistent in ease of getting both patterns in a respectable area, and which are not.

It's been decades since I've set one up myself but I believe I could still do it and have one or possibly two I'd like to do in the mid-term future.

Been awhile since setting up a Richmond and even though there was talk years ago about them being crap, I've never had any issues with that name....

 

[Cranky]

Yep, that's what I'm talking about.

It would be nice is those that set them up frequently would report on which brands are more consistent in ease of getting both patterns in a respectable area, and which are not.

It's been decades since I've set one up myself but I believe I could still do it and have one or possibly two I'd like to do in the mid-term future.

Found this....most of these I've never heard of....

Top 10 Ring Gear Manufacturers in World 2022 - JD Ring Die

We have completed the survey, so you do not need to search the Internet for the top 10 best ring gear manufacturers in World.

www.jdringdie.com

 

[YY1]

According to a cursory google search, Richmond are still made in USA- South Carolina.

 

[Cranky]

According to a cursory google search, Richmond are still made in USA- South Carolina.

Several years ago a guy I knew came over with kits to set up two 8 3/4 chunks and everything was made in China. Told him nothing was guaranteed with that junk. Even the bearings looked like crap. What he was doing was setting up a couple to sell and never heard any feed back from him.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Found this....most of these I've never heard of....

Top 10 Ring Gear Manufacturers in World 2022 - JD Ring Die

We have completed the survey, so you do not need to search the Internet for the top 10 best ring gear manufacturers in World.

www.jdringdie.com

If you go to that link the first company they list is Moser... But Moser doesn't make gears, they resell gears... But if you follow the link Moser sells... US Gears... But US Gears doesn't make gears for an 8.75 any longer...

 

[Cranky]

If you go to that link the first company they list is Moser... But Moser doesn't make gears, they resell gears... But if you follow the link Moser sells... US Gears... But US Gears doesn't make gears for an 8.75 any longer...

Yeah, when I saw the Moser name, my thoughts went that way....

 

[F4R/T]

Years ago when we put a set of 3:91 together for my RT I used Richmond. They are a little noisy not bad. The thing I recall is the paperwork in the box had US Gear all over it. I assumed then they are sibling companies. No complaints here but do worry about future needs.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

US Gear was re-boxed by a few companies... I know Strange would re-box US Gear... I'd heard before that Richmond did too at times... I don't know all the details, I know lots of guys say they've had good luck with Richmond, I never did... Seems I remember Cass posting that if you set up Richmond by the numbers from the pinion depth tool they would run quiet but the pattern wouldn't look right... I don't know, I've used a tool for a Ford 8.8 for years working at the Ford dealer but don't own one for a 8.75 Mopar... I set them up by experience & reading the pattern... I've considered making a tool but since I've never needed one I've never bothered...

 

[fourgearsavoy]

I'd love to hear what brands are better/ not so good and why.

The set I am working with now is a 3.73 gear from Quick Performance. Now this company has been my source for 9" Ford parts so I had an order for some 9"parts and I had a Mopar rear on the bench too. I usually only use Doctor Diff for all my Mopar stuff but I thought I would give Quick the nod since they were shipping me some 9 parts. Cass AKA Doctor Diff has always provided me with good gears and service but his refusal to answer the phone REALLY annoys me.
I'm going to call Quick Performance in the morning and talk to a sales or tech rep for a course of action. If they decide to help me out I will send them praise if they don't then they won't get as much of my business as they want.
I also understand that they can't just warranty a set of gears just because I said they are noisy.
I will post my reply from QP good or bad.

Thanks

Gus

 

[1 Wild R/T]

The set I am working with now is a 3.73 gear from Quick Performance. Now this company has been my source for 9" Ford parts so I had an order for some 9"parts and I had a Mopar rear on the bench too. I usually only use Doctor Diff for all my Mopar stuff but I thought I would give Quick the nod since they were shipping me some 9 parts. Cass AKA Doctor Diff has always provided me with good gears and service but his refusal to answer the phone REALLY annoys me.
I'm going to call Quick Performance in the morning and talk to a sales or tech rep for a course of action. If they decide to help me out I will send them praise if they don't then they won't get as much of my business as they want.
I also understand that they can't just warranty a set of gears just because I said they are noisy.
I will post my reply from QP good or bad.

Thanks

Gus

I'm assuming Quick Performance is just a reseller & they don't manufacture parts?

 

[AR67GTX]

I’m on my 3rd set of new gears in my 67. After 4 mechanics shop efforts on the first two I changed from Richmond to US Gear and yet another shop hired to set it up. Two miles down the road it was howling and they said that was as good as they could get and they would change it around again if I wanted to pull it. I decided enough of this **** and pulled them back out to look at. It was obvious they only worried about the drive side and blew off the coast side. I spent about a month and probably 30 different setups of pinion depth/backlash until I got both side as good as I could get them together. Still have a bit of float howl (steady speed and light throttle) but it’s better and the best of the 3 gear sets and 3 mechanics counting myself. Nothing like having about $2,000 in a rebuilt rear end. And yes, the gears today are crap. Apparently even US Gear is coming from off-shore now. A professional Corvette differential rebuilder who builds some high dollar, beefy differentials and guided me with some assistance said they just keep getting worse and worse and even he has problems getting them to run quiet now. I’ll be damned if I know what the auto manufacturers are doing to turn out new cars and trucks that aren’t howling.

 

[AR67GTX]

By the way, if there is someone you really detest and you would do anything to screw him over, recommend he invest in a set of Richmond Gears for his Mopar.

 

[khryslerkid]

The last two I did was a Nitro and a Motive Gear.

The Nitro I used in my '62 8.75 and had no problem getting a perfect pattern on drive and coast. Gear set is quite. Cass, Dr Diff doesn't advertise Nitro but he has them.

The Motive Gear I used in my 03 Dakota, 9.25. First thing I noticed is they use a phosphate coating supposedly to help with break in. Couldn't get an even pattern at any adjustment. It's a very simple rear to set up. Had to settle for a good drive side pattern and let the coast side where it was. Gear set has a slight whine from 50 mph to 60 mph. It's gotten quieter over time. It's what's out there now days.