Thanks, I'll check that out. CJ claims that Sierra and Yukon come from the same place. Wonder if that's true or a line of crap?

 

Now that I don't know. All I know is the 2002 Yukons served me well and the rear is still serving me well and the Dana 44 2004 Yukons set up really nice.

 

Update-new gears look good. Seem to be different than the first set, part # on these is TV8488 and it has no other markings. The ring gear bolt holes fit like the Toyota's, so I'm satisfied for now. I believe the others were like the ones in the pic on that 4x4Wire thread on page 2 of this thread. They should be setup tomorrow and I'll post if there are any problems.

 

well, it's two days later and still no word...

are you still wrenching???

 

Impatient, I was just about to post.

Gears are in, second set was ok. They setup good with no problems front or rear. I have had no problems so far, I've only been 30 miles though.

When I was putting the stock gears back in the boxes, I noticed something dented in the styrofoam of both boxes-this includes the front "Sierra Gear" box and the rear "Yukon Gear" box. The styrofoam had written in it-
Motive Gear. So I'm guessing maybe these are Motive Gears? At this point I don't know and hope that they will work with no problems. This entire regear ordeal has me really frustrated and worried about the gears. So far so good on the road, I'll update after the 500 miles break in period.

 

You have seen this right?



Learn it, Live it, Know it.

"Fasttimes"

 

I pulled that same picture off your site to reference while I was breaking in my new gears.

 

Yes, guess I should have said the first 15 were this morning by the mechanic, and the second 15 were by me on the way home.

 

Is there some kind of speed limit I should stay under during break in?

 

I think the main point of break-in is to allow the mating surface of the gear teeth a chance to get smooth without over-heating the gear teeth. Over-heating ruins the heat treatment of the steel and your gears will wear out much faster. So the trick is to drive easy for short trips and allow cooling time in between. Until the teeth get smooth there is a lot of friction, which means heat. I would also stay with non-synthetic gear oil for the break-in time and personally I changed my gear oil at 100, 200, 500, and 1000 miles going to Mobil 1 75W90 at 1000 miles. Maybe over-kill but after my first gears (Genuine) only lasted 40,000 miles I’m sick of regearing and don’t want to do it again.

 

I don't think so it all seems to have to do with load. Short trips and no towing for a while.

 

That was my plan, I just went out and drove another leisurely 15 miles. I'm going to let the wife drive it to work for a while (she has a company truck but will leave it at the office)-about 8 miles there and another 8 back. I'll probably check the gear oil after 200 miles or so. I'm planning to switch over to Mobil 1 at 500 miles, or is that too early?

I won't be doing any towing for the first 500 miles, then I'll hook up the camper and tow it around town for about 5-10 miles and let it sit overnight and then do the same the next day. I'll do that for 50 miles (5-6 trips) before I tow it out of town. I'll also do some other light towing before I head out to Tellico with the camper in May (about 500 miles round trip). Incidentally camper weighs about 3600-3700 pounds with a tongue weight around 350-400 pounds. Should I start off with a lighter trailer first, say 14' and a couple of 4wheelers?

Also, how exactly do you break in the gears in the front diff?

 

Plan sounds good. Front diff Mark Mason said not to worry about, that the use off road is nothing compared to what the rear goes through at high speed with and towing. Just wheel it and it will be fine.

After all did you break the factory gears in this carefully?

 

No, good point though. I believe they recommend no towing for the first 500 miles when it's new though, at least the last 3 Z-71's I have had said that. I got the 4Runner used with 55k, so who knows what it got.

 

Marlin will be receiving the gears that I returned on Monday, I'll post the response they give me on a credit for them. So far, all the service they have given me has been great, it's not their fault the first gear set was bad, CJ even told me that they had someone else call in with the same problem at the time I did.

 

Latest update:

CJ at Marlin called and they received the bad gears I sent back. He was very apologetic that I got a bad set and refunded my money on them. He also said that they had received another set on return with the same problem. He then said they checked their inventory and found 3 more sets with the same problem. Wanna know what gears they all were, including the set I sent back-Richmond, that's right I said Richmond.

Anyway, I'm pleased, Marlin's guys were great to deal with and had great service. They paid for shipping (3 day instead of 5)on the new set and they are definitely someone that I would recommend to do business with.

 

Good to hear Marlin took good care of you, they sound like a great co.

 

drag1----I was the installer that found the other faulty set that Marlin got the call on......here's the thread....
http://www.4x4wire.com/forums/showfl...c=1&PHPSESSID=

 

Yeah, I posted on there too. I'm glad Marlin returned my $$ on the other set. I had the exact gears that were in that pic, I ended up with Motive gears.

 

Ya....in the pic you can even see that there appears to be no thread. haha...this is a funny bolt diagram from the 4x4wire site I think the very last style of bolt would have worked for the Richmond stuff!
hehe