running a chipped ring gear?

[moturbopar]

Hi all I found that the 12 bolt in my blazer has 2 chipped teath on the ring gear. 2 teath are missing about a 3/8" from the inside nearest the diff. It looks like its on part of the gear that doesnt get much contact with pinion. The axle turns freely and doesnt make any noise. I have no idea what could have happend to the peaces except that a previous owner removed the chunks. There is no other dammage anywhere. Anyways I was wondering if you guys think that the ring will hold up to a 200mile trip. When I get back I will be finishing up my other rear axle.

Thanks
Shawn

 

[diesel4me]

Hard to say..

I've seen more than a few rear diffs with teeth chipped on ring gears ,spiders gears,etc,during routine 90W gear oil changes!--found them stuck to the magnet epoxied to the housing!...along with wheel bearing rollers,tons of metallic sludge--

One was a 1979 Chevette I delivered auto parts in,I decided to change the right rear wheel bearing that was noisy for 2 years one slow day at work..two ring gear teeth were stuck to the magnet,and it was not just a "chip"--theese were nearly the entire teeth!--and I never heard any noises from the ring and pinion,just the defective wheel bearing!(which caused the ring gear teeth to break,a few rollers went for a ride thru the ring and pinion(pinion was perfect!--)..

I told my boss,he looked at it,and said "well,just put it back together,and drive it!--if it goes,we'll get another rear end from the salvage yard and have it installed"....I drove that car another 15000 miles before I quit 2 years later,and it only had a very slight "thud thud thud" when you coasted downhill..it never broke or got any worse!....

On the other hand,I had a "beefy" 12 bolt snap the pinion right off,when I got mad when the truck kept stalling in the cold due to no choke--I got the rpm's up to 2500 or so and put it in drive--got about 3 feet,and I heard a big "CLANG" and the driveshaft started beating the underside of the bed to death!...no more pinion shaft!...the one and only 12 bolt I've seen break too!

So its a toss up--after all the ones I saw with "shrapnel" in the magnet that made no noise,and would likely have gone undetected if not for the oil change,it makes me wonder whats in MY rear axle!--I dont think I wanna know!....It might last a long time,or crap out in 5 miles--its anybodys guess!..but one thing for sure--it WILL break!!--its WHEN thats hard to tell!..

 

[ntsqd]

Take a stone and polish the ragged edges. Clean out the resulting grit. Then run it!

 

[dhcomp]

200 miles is nothing. If it was my truck, it would make me a little nervous but i would run it for sure. I just would try to not hammer on the gas or peel out or anything obnoxious.


Theres guys on here running with whole missing teeth on 14bolt rear's, as long as the teeth aren't sequential, it will still run for a long time.

On a 12 bolt, it won't run as long....but for 200 miles i say go for it!

 

[Pookster]

I've heard of people welding teeth back on, or just filing the missing area with welding material (build it up). suprisingly, this is a common practice for the big truck and construction industry. Build it up, polish it up, fill it up with some good oil with some moly in it, and your good to go.

 

[moturbopar]

Thanks for the replies! I had allready smoothed out the broken part of the teeth with a grinding stone and a cartridge roll. I decided to pull the diff to make sure all the bearings looked ok and everything looks fairly new. went ahead and put the lockright in. I guess we will see how it does . Thanks again!
Shawn

 

[supersize75]

Hi all I found that the 12 bolt in my blazer has 2 chipped teath on the ring gear. 2 teath are missing about a 3/8" from the inside nearest the diff. It looks like its on part of the gear that doesnt get much contact with pinion. The axle turns freely and doesnt make any noise. I have no idea what could have happend to the peaces except that a previous owner removed the chunks. There is no other dammage anywhere. Anyways I was wondering if you guys think that the ring will hold up to a 200mile trip. When I get back I will be finishing up my other rear axle.

Thanks
Shawn

hey since your local if you want some of us local guys to give it a look its not a biggie,

I say no big deal, one of the 14 bolts I had a long time ago had a few teeth missing and alot of metal from it, I beat the snot out of it and it was the housing that failed..not the ring gear.

alot of it could have somthing to do with the heat treating or how your ring gear was made, I doubt its a defect, but if it was made on a friday...

oh just a heads up, if you happen to have a 3.73 geared 12 bolt and yours does go out, I have here one waiting for ya

-shawn

 

[moturbopar]

Hi! Thanks for the offer! I have it all back together now and dont really want to pull it apart until it blows up And yes I do have a 3.73 12 bolt. I have been looking for an extra one, just incase if this one goes out soon. How much are you wanting for it?
We should get to gether sometime and BS I would like to check out your blazer, (need to meet more people with blazers around here. You can Pm me or Email me at [email protected]
Thanks
Shawn

 

[73k5blazer]

My '86 C10 10 bolt has two chipped teeth, although not as big as you describe. I noticed it in 2003 when I bought the truck with 86k mi on it as I was changing all the fluids. Truck now has 142K on it, and no problems from the rear...