Reply to "Pinion Question"

I tend to agree with ItalFord.

What does the wear pattern look like in that area on the ring gear?

I personally would want to see a loading pattern (wear pattern) on the teeth.

It might just be that portion of the gear flaked in that spot OR for some reason developed rust right there?

That COULD be an indication that there is no direct tooth to tooth contact in that spot.

There is no guaranty that a new ring and pinion would not show some kind of a "concern" in spots on the teeth.

I would guess that you would want to do some kind of a surface imaging on both.

Many years ago Chevy was having problems with the 427 steel crankshafts. The hardening process that they went through were showing spider web pattern cracking on the bearing surfaces AFTER they sat on the "shelf" for a period of time.

Chevy removed them under fear that they would fail in competition. I don't remember what the fix was. It MIGHT have been caused by "tough-triding" the cranks?

It's a long time ago and I just don't remember specifically, just generically.


The other thing is that all designs have stress factors in the calculation (a safety factor). It could well be that the gear is already oversized and probably has a 85% (or less) stress loading. Parts are rarely stressed 100%.

Supercharging something like a 427 probably would be the concern here.