quote:I talked to a vender and told him I was going to saftey wire the ring gear, he said that is not nessisary unless the original bolts have been loosened. The original bolts have teeth that bite into the gear.
A VENDOR TOLD YOU THAT??!!!
Was that a Yugo vendor?
I can not imagine any Pantera-knowledgeable vendor telling you that.Yes, the stock ring gear bolts do have 'teeth', but due to the hardness of the ring gear, those teeth do not really get a bite. When they loosen, they begin to back out. Everything is fine until they get out far enough that on the next rotation they find a portion of the case to be slammed against. Being a very hard alloy, they (thankfully) snap off instead of jamming. And if the gods are smiling on you, that bolt head harmlessly falls down to the bottom of the case. But the gods are not always kind.
I will never forget the PCNC member who showed up at one of our tech sessions with a small Ziploc baggie. In that bag were ten bolts heads and five bolt thread sections.
He had used a coat hanger to fish all those pieces out the bottom drain hole of his ZF, after one piece plopped out into the oil drain pan while performing his first oil change on his newly acquired Pantera.
Amazingly, the only damage was a case crack, apparently caused when a piece was flung against the case, that was not of major concern. He was one of the VERY lucky ones.
Pantera Land is full of other incidences of bolt heads falling out during an oil change and cases ruined when they were cracked after a bolt head became jammed in the gears.
Bill, many owners have bought the safety-wiring kits (bolts and tool and wire) and done it themselves. Apparently it is not rocket science. I suggest you call a real vendor and order that kit.
The 'vendor' who gave you that advice is either ignorant or does not like you. Of course loose bolts need to be tightened - genius advice, there. The big question is WHY would they become loose? Because there was a design flaw, and they DO loosen.
The problem is you cannot check ring gear bolts with the ease of checking the engine oil. Your first hint of a problem may be the horrendous bang when your case cracks, gears are destroyed, and you find yourself (hopefully) at the side of the road with that nagging voice in your head...
'Why did I listen to that STUPID vendor?"
Larry
