Gears & Axles - Break in procedure for new gears?




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nimrod.sixty9
06-12-2012, 05:58 PM
Does anyone know the break in procedure for Richmond gears?

I found this from a Richmond PDF via Google:
Street vehicles should be driven at normal street driving speed for approximately 10 miles, then stop and let cool for 30 minutes. Do this 2 to 3 times.

Does this sound right? Anyone with experience?

Just a little confused as I have seen many other break in procedures and would like to know what is recommended.

TIA


fccs
06-12-2012, 08:17 PM
I did something similar. Drove around town for like 10minutes, went for lunch. Did it again and went home. Later that night I was beating on it lol. It's basically just a warm up/cool down process you do from what I understand.

2win_SS
06-13-2012, 12:41 AM
On motive I think they suggest 500 miles of in town driving. NO highway or heavy acceleration... But the idea is to warm them up and cool them down. After 500miles change the oil in the rear end. Done


lncboytre_d
06-13-2012, 04:24 AM
I did a total of 200 miles on my motives....changed the fluid and hit the track. Lol it's only been about 2 weeks, but no issues here.

2win_SS
06-13-2012, 04:40 AM
^^^ goodluck i hope all goes well incboytre

Any whine or noises yet incboytre?

lncboytre_d
06-13-2012, 06:14 AM
No whine ....yet. I pulled 4 60' times of 1.59-1.63 on spray with the gears, and a lot of hard pulls on the street in between just testing them out. When I pulled the cover, there is no sign of uneven wear or improper alignment. But it is a 10 bolt. My torque arm is twisting so that is my main concern on killing my rear end.

I am pushing my 10 bolt with a 200 mile break in pretty hard...over 620 ft/lb of torque (through an A4)
So far 4 passes of 6.8-7.0 in the 1/8th (adjustin my tune as I ran).

BlackScreaminMachine
06-14-2012, 06:50 AM
Basically your heat cycling the gears. More for helping with break in. Just to add for those who buy a 12 bolt / 9" The paperwork I got with my moser had break-in for other types of cars like circle track and rail cars (dragsters).

I got a chuckle when they basically said add oil. Pull to line, burn out, race car, repeat. lol but considering you cannot really "heat cycle" a pure drag car and the engine's life is measured in in minutes or passes I just got a kick out of that.

One thing to note, after racing with the rear and making hard hits a typical whine of the 12 bolt does come back, nothing horrible but just something to mention.

2win_SS
06-14-2012, 11:20 AM
^^^ Even 12b whine? What gears you runnin?

alamantia
06-14-2012, 01:49 PM
Gears are heat treated at the factory after they are cut. The temprature they heat treat them is much higher than you could ever get by running them in the car. I bought my car new and did not heat cycle my gears. I just drove the car and the gears are fine. The factory that produces the gears run them in and then scribe a depth on them for the installer to use. If the installer follows those dimsnsions and properly torques the pinion nut and lashes the gears there will be no whine with a quality gear. I have found that when I initially perform a gear swap. If I did it right, the rear is dead quiet. After about 5000 miles I start to notice a hum. I have dicovered that the hum is caused by lack of preload on the pinion bearings. The bearings seem to seat themselves and preload drops on the crush collar. If that happens I just torque the pinion nut down 10-15 degrees and the hum goes away and they stay quiet for a long time after that. You can heat cycle gears, but I dont think it makes a lick of difference. The shavings that accumulate on the magnet in the rear are from the bearings not so much the gears.

lncboytre_d
06-14-2012, 02:06 PM
Gears are heat treated at the factory after they are cut. The temprature they heat treat them is much higher than you could ever get by running them in the car. I bought my car new and did not heat cycle my gears. I just drove the car and the gears are fine. The factory that produces the gears run them in and then scribe a depth on them for the installer to use. If the installer follows those dimsnsions and properly torques the pinion nut and lashes the gears there will be no whine with a quality gear. I have found that when I initially perform a gear swap. If I did it right, the rear is dead quiet. After about 5000 miles I start to notice a hum. I have dicovered that the hum is caused by lack of preload on the pinion bearings. The bearings seem to seat themselves and preload drops on the crush collar. If that happens I just torque the pinion nut down 10-15 degrees and the hum goes away and they stay quiet for a long time after that. You can heat cycle gears, but I dont think it makes a lick of difference. The shavings that accumulate on the magnet in the rear are from the bearings not so much the gears.

Sounds good to me! My installer is also a drag racer. His thing is, "My car does not see 500 miles in a year, how can I 'properly' break them in?" He has serveral high 4 low 5 second passes on his with just a slight hum....no whine. I trust him. Hell, you race shit you break shit. Maybe I have just been luck so far. Took my car out today for some tranny tuning, made 3 hard launches w/ 200 shot of n20 pulling to the top of third.....gears still happy. Only reason I stopped because the juice got low.

nimrod.sixty9
06-14-2012, 03:27 PM
Thanks for the info guys. Looks like ill drive for 10 to 15 miles then let cool for 30 minutes, x3. Will avoid going over 50MPH.

lncboytre_d
06-14-2012, 03:32 PM
Thanks for the info guys. Looks like ill drive for 10 to 15 miles then let cool for 30 minutes, x3. Will avoid going over 50MPH.

Be sure to change your gear oil after your "break in". Have fun.