I'm shaving down my 60 housing tomorrow and was considering shaving some off of the gear itself so I can get even more clearance. Momma always told me, if yer gonna do it, do it right. So, for those of you that have done this, how much did you take off the ring gear. I was thinking .25", but if I can take more I will. I've got the keys to a machine shop so doing this lil project won't be a problem.

Easy

i wouldn't shave the ring, but its your rig, and i guess you really don't need all that gear. i have heard a few people cutting up to .3 without any failure or problems, but i think thats a bit much. do it VERY evenly and cleanly.

I took about 3/4" total I think...What I did was trim it down to the chamfer which took off all the angled material and left it about 1/8" larger than the carrier.

Why don't you just use a Ford 9" diff and axle - ring gear is "pre-shaved", nice rounded bottom of diff housing already...really, shaving the ring gear seems like "throwing out the baby with bath water".
Charlie

dont do it!

Well, I really don't consider a 9" to be a good 4x axle, a good race car axle yes and I really don't remember asking anything about a 9" BTW. I'd like to hear some horror stories or better yet see pics of carnage from the folks that say don't do it. And for the folks that have done it, how long have you been running that way and how good do you GET IT!!

Easy

Easy ck U mail... I'm pretty sure randys R&P site has some guidelines, something like you can cut off 20% of the tooth surface, and If I remember right a d-60 has about 1 5/8" of tooth at the long point of the gear.

If Randys is gonna put that in writeing in this day and age I figure you can whack of 25% and be safe.

I would be more concerned with a rear axle than a front, and I would consider tire size and weight, before I started pushing the limits harder.

shave away i took off .275 and you can hardley tell the difference the part you shave is a part that the teeth dont touch anyway

Originally posted by GearMan
shave away i took off .275 and you can hardley tell the difference the part you shave is a part that the teeth dont touch anyway

Bingo !

i have no first hand experience...but i have heard ppl say that it ruins the heat treating on the ring gear, making it alot more failure prone....any validity to this?
~John

Originally posted by JohnBuuu
i have no first hand experience...but i have heard ppl say that it ruins the heat treating on the ring gear, making it alot more failure prone....any validity to this?
~John NO

thanks! any idea why ppl say that?
~John

Most people will talk down something they don't have or cannot afford, just like they will talk up some pos modification they did.
When you think about the amount of steel in a ring gear, you would have to cut it with a torch or a sidegrinder to get it that hot

Originally posted by dirtrod
Most people will talk down something they don't have or cannot afford, just like they will talk up some pos modification they did.
When you think about the amount of steel in a ring gear, you would have to cut it with a torch or a sidegrinder to get it that hot
good points....i figured it was probably bullshit, some ppl have insisted on that opinion...oh well. thanks for the info.
~John

Originally posted by JohnBuuu
i have no first hand experience...but i have heard ppl say that it ruins the heat treating on the ring gear, making it alot more failure prone....any validity to this?
~John


I know "machinists" who could break steel balls in a sandbox, if you don't know what you're doing, you can put enough heat into it to fawk up the heat treatment.

Me thinks that a jig grinder will keep it nice and cool, no heat treat concerns here. I guess there's no turning back now:eek:
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid28/p95d99da2b1cdcba2d7204667fc299229/fdf805a5.jpg.orig.jpg
Easy

Originally posted by JohnBuuu
i have no first hand experience...but i have heard ppl say that it ruins the heat treating on the ring gear, making it alot more failure prone....any validity to this?
~John

If you cut 1/4" off a big ring gear like that in a lathe it is not going to get hot enough to effect the heat treatment. Driving down the road a ring and pinion can get really hot. Don't worry about losing your heat treating, it won't happen.

I was going to use the lathe, but the thought of those hardened teeth smacking the inserts didn't appeal to me. The grinder took longer, but it sure is pretty.

Easy

Sean, different program (IE) and different web site, and I still get this message:

Image Station.com
Sorry...you are trying to access an image from outside of ImageStation.com. ImageStation.com will not host images for other websites.

Maybe it's just me, I don't know. Jeff

I don't know what's up with these guys, been using them for a couple of months now and this crap starts happening. I can see the pics from my computer and one of the ones at school, but not from my bro's. Guess it's time to find a new photo sharing site.

Easy