Ring and Pinion Break-in

[ZachJ]

I am having some gears installed and was wondering what the proper way to break in the gears. would I be able to drive 150 mil. a day after the install. I also dont have my front driveshaft install if that matters.

[OverkillZJ]

if your front driveshaft isn't installed, your front gears really won't be broken in at all. Depends on the gearset, how well the install went, what oil you used, and how you drive... Really, I'd drive a few miles, feel how hot the dif is, drive 10, 20, etc. What breaks them in is loading / unloading, not constant load, this can break down the oil causing the gears to fail.

[ZachJ]

Actually what I meant is would it be bad to drive that far with the new gears. I was kinda thinking that without the front driveshaft they wouldnt get broken in. I would do the normal drive 10-20 miles let the diff cool, do that a couple times.

[OverkillZJ]

I think you'd be fine, I put 400 miles on a new set of gears the first day out, just didn't break 55, and let them cool often.

[ZachJ]

Alright thats what I wanted to hear. Thank you

[nate]

I just run them and after 50 miles or so, stop and let it cool. Just don't be stupid on the throttle and you'll be fine.
I have broken in gear sets on the trail before even.

[OverkillZJ]

I think on the trail is one of the best ways to break them in, as long as you're not shock loading it. Think about it, it gets loaded, released, cools while others are on obsticles, then heats up again.

[auggeren911]

My local shop put mine in last year and basicly told me to drive it for 20 min. stop let it cool then drive it for 45 again. Then after the first 150 miles change the fluid. I did notice a small amount of metal in the oil when I changed it. He said it was the gears meshing together. They have been good since then. I would not recomeng getting on it hard though, prior to my current set I had some yukon hd gears in and at about 320 miles in the break in I got on it to pass a car and the interstate and destroyed them. They sounded like a hurricane warrning horn after that.

[nate]

I am just careful for the first 100 miles maybe. After that normal driving, no towing for another 400 miles... at 500 miles I dump the oil and it's good to go.