gear install
 

ok after the gears installation and a bunch of other stuff, i was told to take it easy for about 500 miles, what exactly does "take it easy" mean??

like normal driving....light on the throttle....but i also hear that there is no break in time for gears too...

Just get on it.There is nothing to break in.

yeah, let er rip. if theres a problem, youll know about it. I took mine for a test drive just to listen for noise. After about 2 minutes, i had it screamin sideways.

There is a break in period for gears. The pinion and ring gear teeth have to wear a pattern into eachother before you can go all out on it. Pretty much, just take it easy for the first 500 miles, drain the diff, refill it, and then have fun.

Nope :nono:

There is nothing to break in.They are either done right or they are wrong simple as that.And drain the gear oil after 500 miles WTF why would you even do that.

No break in time needed if gears are put in right to start with. If synthetic gear oil was used at install you'll probably never have to change it unless you put it under water.

There are mixed opinions when it comes to this. You can either do it or not, I didnt. You also DONT need to change the oil after 500 miles.

I've never broken in gears. They either make noise or they don't.

Change your rear end lube every 15K miles. Synthetic won't last forever but it is usually better. Changing it after 500 miles is just plum silly.

Since I don't have a scanner handy at the moment, I will quote a Car Craft issue on the topic:
"According to the tech staff at Randy's Ring & Pinion, new gearsets do need to be 'run in' before they can be subjected to heavy usage. The first three trips with the new gears should be limited to no more than 20 to 30 miles each. These should be short trips that are intended to simply heat up the gears and the lube. After each one of these trips, the rear axle should be allowed to cool completely, which takes at least three hours after being fully warmed up. For the remainder of the first 500 miles, there should be no heavy loading or drag-race-style launches. The wear pattern is still being established between the gears at this point, and harsh loading can have a detrimental effeect on this process. Attempting to run the gears in while the vehicles is on jackstands will not produce a sufficient load to establish a proper wear pattern, nor will it bring the lubricant and gears up to normal operating temps, which is critical for proper heat cycling."
"After the first 500 miles have passed, the rear axle lubricant should be changd as there will be some minor metal shavings generated from the hard metal facing on the gears as the set breaks in...Once the rear gears are broken in, you can switch to synthetic lube and start bangin' gears"
This was quoted from pages 80-81 of the July '04 issue of Car Craft.
Think of it this way, when you break in an engine, you essentially are allowing the pistons to establish a wear pattern to the cylinder walls (seating them). Same thing goes for your gears, you have to allow them to set a wear pattern to eachother.

You can alway's find somewhere to back you up but I go by what I've learned hand's on and from people who do this for a living say.I know guy's that have been doing it for over 30 year's and would laugh at that article.

Seems to me that it would also be silly if a reputable business would say something like that in a magazine if it's foolish. For example, do we all follow strict break-in procedures when we buy a new vehicle? I bet most of us don't but are there problems down the road, no. Does that mean it's right? No. When I use to have a moped (a gear head needs to start somewhere), out of the store, I rode it hard and w/ synthetic lube. I got over 4,000 miles out of that thing which for a POS 2-stroke moped is pretty damn good. Even after putting new rings in, I ran it w/ synthetic. The point is that skipping break in will not cause any major problems. However, if down the road you push those parts to the limit, whether or not you broke it in properly may determine if it fails or not.

Have heard the same thing from reputable installers. Many years of experience and many installs are good enough for me. If they're saying just get on it just do it and don't worry about it.