Freezing Ring and Pinion

actionjackson · 06-30-06, 02:06 AM

Does anyone have any facts behind the heating/freezing techniques that Bobby Longfield can do on a ring and pinion set? How much stronger does it make them? Has anyone broken teeth on one of his treated gears yet? Or should I look at getting a particular brand that is manufactured stronger than Yukon? Here's what happened to my front end on Billings Canyon. When I heard the grinding I told myself...there goes one of my chromoly birfs

I was dead wrong when I pulled my axles and saw them in perfect condition. My new weak link is my 5.29 ring/pinion. Finally I am getting around to replacing them and would like to get everyone's opinions on what to replace them with. And YES I'm sticking with 5.29's

I know they are weaker but I need em.

Trunk Monkey · 06-30-06, 05:15 AM

You'll probably get more info from the mini truck guys on Pirate. As I'm sure you know, only a handful of 80 owners have changed their gearing, and I'd bet you'd be the first with cryo'd gears.

Nice to hear about the chromo birfs.

Dusty · 06-30-06, 08:10 AM

shawn
once you get that cruiser crawler 3:1 tcase add on thing installed you will be plenty low and can use a higher (ie stronger) ring and pinion right? hows the crawler box install comming along?

clownmidget · 06-30-06, 08:16 AM

Shawn - that's not a good sign and I feel for you. I think your best bet is the direction you were going with the crawler box from Mark's. I guess I thought you already had it or was in the process of installing it but looks like not

Just seems to me that at some point - which I think you are already at - turning big tires just can't be overcome completely with just a better gear ration at your r&p. You gotta go into the xfer - either the lower gear swap for the stock one or the piggyback box like Christo has.

Good luck, the Longfield treating can't hurt that's for sure but you already know the low-low crawl will keep you on the trail more. Your wrenching skillz on that drivetrain must be crazy by now

actionjackson · 06-30-06, 09:02 AM

Thanks guys. I've been busy with our new baby so my cruiser has been getting dusty

I'm just now getting around to things

First thing I wanted to do is fix my front end then the crawler box is going in immediately afterwards.

The crawler is definately going to help me keep things controlled on the trails putting less sudden stress on the ring and pinion. I'm going to go ahead and get a new ring/pinion set treated from Bobby and throw them in... I'm sticking with 5.29's for now. They help me move down the highway

actionjackson · 06-30-06, 09:50 AM

Just ordered my gears. They are drop shipping to Bobby's and he will do his magic on them. Talked to Randy's Ring and Pinion and they say treated gear sets are usually 30% stronger. This time around Bobby said to set them up a lot tighter than normal. He said around 2 would be ideal instead of 6-10. I'll let you know how they hold up to my abuse.

Tools R Us · 06-30-06, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by actionjackson

... This time around Bobby said to set them up a lot tighter than normal. He said around 2 would be ideal instead of 6-10. I'll let you know how they hold up to my abuse.

That one of the keys to making diff gears last under extreme beating. Make sure you have plenty of preload on the carrier bearings, carrier deflection is one of the prime causes of teeth shearing. Have you read Zuk's thoughts on it? http://www.gearinstalls.com/ He has set some up for locals that beat them extremely hard with as much as 110 ft/lbs of preload on the carrier bearings with good results!

I don't want 110 ft/lbs for my DD, but will have plenty to keep the carrier from moving around.

actionjackson · 06-30-06, 12:00 PM

Excellent resource. Looks like this guy knows his stuff very well. It could have been I had my preload not tight enough from what he talks about here:

http://www.gearinstalls.com/freshen.htm

Here is exactly what I will be doing next week. This is an article on the correct gear installation for the FJ80 front elocker with 5.29's that have been cryo'd

Perfect!
http://www.gearinstalls.com/elocker229.htm

Thanks for the resource.

concretejungle · 06-30-06, 12:36 PM

Wow, shows just how much of an idiot i am when it comes to gears. That was total french to me.

Can someone tell me in simple terms why going with a big gear makes it weaker?

LilblkDuck · 02-06-08, 03:56 PM

Sorry to resurect an old thread but was wondering how this all worked out.
Im going through the process now, using 5.29 yukon's in my rear r+p and have had them cyro'd only to be told that its too thin and wont shim up???
Was told the pinion depth for the 5.29's should be about 25thou.
Would be interested in hearing from anyone else who's gone down this road.

thanks.

Update, OK the Cryo treatment i used had nothing to do with my issues. For the record, depending on the metal they boast 200% longer life to the item, and their unit gradually freezes the parts to -200 deg C, it took 7 days to complete.
Is it worth it? Only one way to find out.