So what causes...
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Fleet Owner
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 24,724
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From: Blue Hill Township
So what causes...
a chipped pinion gear tooth?
Now don't shoot me, I'm talking about a 10 bolt GM rear, but a differential is a differential for the most part.
My little brother complained that the rear end of his car started clicking after he hit a bump. My old man pulled the cover off of the rear end and found that one of the teeth on the pinion gear is chipped. The car is stock with a 6spd. I haven't looked at it since I'm not home, but I can't think of anything that would cause a pinion gear tooth to chip like that unless some piece of debris got caught in there.
Now don't shoot me, I'm talking about a 10 bolt GM rear, but a differential is a differential for the most part.
My little brother complained that the rear end of his car started clicking after he hit a bump. My old man pulled the cover off of the rear end and found that one of the teeth on the pinion gear is chipped. The car is stock with a 6spd. I haven't looked at it since I'm not home, but I can't think of anything that would cause a pinion gear tooth to chip like that unless some piece of debris got caught in there.
Post Fiend
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 6,948
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Plenty of explainable reasons why a ring gear, or pinion could chip, and then there are just some random un-explainable ones.
I would first clean all of the oil off and immediately check the pattern. The pattern will tell all.
Many times the ring gear comes loose, and develops some runout, and the loose mesh or loose tolerance will cause the problem. Loose pinion can also cause this.
Either way a little marking compound can provide some answers.
Now the un-explained. You are aware that the ring and pinion are under a high amount of shock loads. When the clutch is dropped, or even if the tires skip, it tries to push the gears apart. If the tolerance becomes so great that the gears can smack one another and the result is a broken gear.
Obviously a piece of debris will cause this also, but that brings with it several other issues, because it means other parts have failed.
I would first clean all of the oil off and immediately check the pattern. The pattern will tell all.
Many times the ring gear comes loose, and develops some runout, and the loose mesh or loose tolerance will cause the problem. Loose pinion can also cause this.
Either way a little marking compound can provide some answers.
Now the un-explained. You are aware that the ring and pinion are under a high amount of shock loads. When the clutch is dropped, or even if the tires skip, it tries to push the gears apart. If the tolerance becomes so great that the gears can smack one another and the result is a broken gear.
Obviously a piece of debris will cause this also, but that brings with it several other issues, because it means other parts have failed.
Laughing Gas
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 984
Likes: 8
If the bump was big enough to get a tire off the ground you will shock load the drivetrain. That kind of sounds like what happened. The pinion will always break teeth before the ring, thats just mechanics. I doubt it was debris or you would be able to find it and it wouldn't trash one tooth. If there was something improperly set up, loose or warn out; you would see wear on all teeth not just one broken one.
Matt
Matt
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