AX30401 HD Over Drive Gear Set MESH too tight?

[joe.bielski]

I just installed the Axial AX30401 HD Over Drive Gear Set in my front axle and with a Grip Fab SS Locker and when I put it all back together the mesh is WAAAAAAY too tight. The housing isn't even tightened too much and the is ZERO play with the pinion gear. There is no way to possibly shim it.

I put the regular HD gear in the rear and pretty much the same thing just not as bad. And like other people have said in different threads, it seems to catch in one spot on both sets. Goes around fine, then grinds and gets really tight and feels like it's gonna bind.

I checked the the gears themselves and they don't have any visible defects. Should I just suck it up and run it like this hoping the loosen up a bit?

[TacoCrawler]

yer sure the pinion's output bearings are seated correctly/fully ?

is the drive shaft's pinion coupler installed ?

that pulls the pinion gear out slightly from the pinion housing
at the back of the axle as it seats against the bearing.

the two gear's mesh tends to bind more if the pinion is pushed inwards
and into the primary gear's teeth.

or maybe you installed the primary gear wrong
and the bearings are not seated fully/properly ?

[joe.bielski]

I double checked EVERYTHING, Pinion gear and bearings are seated like they should, installed everything correctly.
I even put a shim between the axle and drive shaft to try and pull the pinion out as far as possible but that didn't help at all.
From looking at other threads it seems like the over-drive gears had some bad batches where the tolerances were off. Poop.

[allanon1965]

Did you install the factory gasket between the ring gear and locker? If you did, that will cause it to be tight and bind....

[joe.bielski]

Nope, Ring gear is bolted directly up to the grip fab SS locker. Man what a PITA.

[GodSpeed999]

You did mention the housing wasn't screwed together completely tight but were the chubs on?

If they were, take them off and test again. Curious.

I've found that either the axles aren't made perfectly straight, or they don't fit into the locker perfectly straight, or perhaps a bit of both. Tried with stock gears, HD gears of all ratios, stock locker, HH Spool, Axial CVD's, Axial straight shaft rears...

When the chubs or lockouts aren't on, gears spin like butter; secure the axle shafts in place with chubs/lockouts and there's a friction spot. It feels like it's in the ring gear based upon its rotational frequency. Also when the chubs/lockouts aren't on, you can see the ends of the axle shafts doing small circles, rather than just rotating.

I could be way off on your problem, just some observations I've made resulting in a friction spot.

[joe.bielski]

Hey GodSpeed999, thanks for the message. I've tried everything. On both the front and rear it feels like there is a spot on the ring gear that seems to be the issue (Not as much on the rear HD Gears). Or they just don't like being mounted on the Grip Fab SS Lockers.

When I put the axle housing back together and put the chubs back on it still spins freely, but as soon as I tighten everything up, it starts doing that. And I'm not even tightening it that much :S

I've gone through a couple threads where this over drive mesh seems to be an issue but no real solutions :S

I'll try putting the gear on the stock diff and see if it's better. I'll let you know what happens.

[joe.bielski]

I grabbed a my spare Axial HEAVY DUTY BEVEL GEAR SET 38T/13T and installed it with the Grip Fab SS Locker and it worked FINE!!! So the Grip Fab SS Locker is NOT the problem. I just got a bad Over drive gear set. I contacted Axial and the said they've "never heard of this issue with the gear set before" but will replace it it I send it in. So that's cool of them.

SO, conclusion: There are some bad meshing OVERDRIVE gear sets out there. The Grip Fab SS Lockers are fine, and an amazing product!!!

[351Beno]

That happened to me to i just let it go and they wore in just fine.

[winnerone23]

A "tight" fit, is a good thing! ;)

Not only do I appreciate that effect, I look for it.. Specially with the OD gear sets.
They have less gear mesh, from the higher great ratio, from the factory..

so I take it a step further. I get the Dlux modded axle housing's, for my scx/ax based rig's.

Erik mill's then for a bigger inner bearing (13mm). He then leaves a little extra material in there, to keep the bearing out a little (towards the ring gear) to keep mesh Tight and right!

It's a little "chunky" feeling/sounding at first, but breaks in and mesh's Perfectly!

So, that's probably why axial hasn't ever heard about this "problem"..