Advice of Dana 60 Gears
 

Broke the Dana 60 in our Roadrunner
at Sears Point Sunday.

3725 LBS,

4.56 Ratio

High 10's

Low 1.4's @ 60

I will check Steel Spool for runout (Scared of Alum in this tank)

Backlash = .003 to .004

2 Quarts of Red Line Synthetic Oil

We got around 200 to 220 runs on old gear set we just broke.

They were Richmond Non Pro Set.

The Pro gears before only went 10 runs and knocked off 3 Teeth when we had 8 3/4.

Any Advice appreciated!!


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Re: Advice of Dana 60 Gears
 

Have you tried Cryo treatment?

Re: Advice of Dana 60 Gears
 

Not sure if you have a lube issue, but I have a Dana 60 in my low 10-high 9 second 4 speed bracket car, and have used 3 different ratio Richmond Pro gears (4.56, 4.88, and currently 5.13s), since I converted the car to a 4 speed over 20 years ago. I use Redline Heavy Shockproof gear oil, and although I haven`t had the cover of the rear since I changed to the 5.13s about 5 years ago, I can say the other 2 gearsets still look great great after 7-8 years on each set. Now my cars about 500 pounds lighter, but over 20 years of 6000-6600 RPM clutch drops and zero gear issues makes me a believer in the Shockproof oils.

Re: Advice of Dana 60 Gears
 

How is the pinion depth being set? With a tool? How is the pinion bearing preload? Was it set with drag or minimal drag?The Backlash is way to tight in my opinion.

The oil shouldn’t be an issue. Definitely should stick with a pro gear but an auto shouldn’t probably break those gears.

Re: Advice of Dana 60 Gears
 

.003-.004 lash is tight ,need to be more like .007-.010 ,,also mesuring Pinon depth by the numbers will get you close but the tooth pattern and the feel is the final way to go at it ,I have a few sets of ratios I swap and use a slip fit pinion bearing rather than the shim behind the pinion race

Re: Advice of Dana 60 Gears
 

Something is not right. I get thousands of runs from a ring an pinion in my Dana 60 and that is with a 5.86 and 6.17 gears. I look for .010 on backlash and use a good synthetic lube. Steel spool and billet caps. With that ratio you should never have to change the gear.

Re: Advice of Dana 60 Gears
 

I've done an awful lot of Dana 60's with both Pro and street 4.56 gears and have never had issues with life expectancy. Mostly heavy cars too.
If pinion depth is confirmed to be correct, I'd suspect excessive heat from the tight backlash causing damage to the gears.
Most street gear ,race setups get between .008 -.010" backlash ,Pro gears I have usually at .012-.014.

Re: Advice of Dana 60 Gears
 

Why are you setting the backlash so tight? Did someone recommend that? Look for triple what you have. .010

Re: Advice of Dana 60 Gears
 

Are the Richmond gears the best choice?

I will probably get Street gears unless I really
need Pro Gears?

Thanks to everyone for the Help!!

Re: Advice of Dana 60 Gears
 

Right now I've been using mostly US Gear for race rears mainly because of availability , but they are good quality and usually pattern check good at their setup depth markings. Both Mark Williams and Strange sell them

Re: Advice of Dana 60 Gears
 

IMHO the gear sets need more backlash, AKA Space, for the gear lube to build a film for the gears to mesh on. I'm thinking the .008+ Up^.. If the pattern doesn't look right you can usually adjust the pinion depth to get the pattern right at that backlash. Some where I have a 1962 Motor Manual that explains the back lash pinion moves vs pattern location.

Re: Advice of Dana 60 Gears
 

.003 - .004 seems kinda tight to me.

Re: Advice of Dana 60 Gears
 

Needs to be .010 to .012

Re: Advice of Dana 60 Gears
 

I switch to US gear, and like them, the old Richmond gears the double diamond are good, but i think they have had multiple buy outs over the years, and quality is not the same.

Re: Advice of Dana 60 Gears
 

John, I run same car, but a lot less torque (340) with 8.75 ,point is we always have the gears heat treated. Have had very few problems, even running close to 3700 lbs. We do run 6-12 thou. bk-lash, with auto trans. good luck. Glen H 1257

Re: Advice of Dana 60 Gears
 

There was some positive reviews about Motive Gears that are manufactured in Italy.

Re: Advice of Dana 60 Gears
 

Thanks.............Appreciate the help!

Re: Advice of Dana 60 Gears
 

john don't complain about 200-220 check them real good at 100 replace at 160-175 never in 50 years have we got 200 out of dana gears we have 5.13 in our satellite with 2.94 low gear set so could make a difference and chads car also pretty heavy in C/SA this is my 2 cents

Re: Advice of Dana 60 Gears
 

John get a pro gear set it up right .010 to .012 backlash you will get thousands of runs out of it I always say set it and forget it

Re: Advice of Dana 60 Gears
 

In the A B C six pack car we got over 15 years of service from a pro gear Dana. 3700# in C to 3200# in A

Re: Advice of Dana 60 Gears
 

What hardness do you have the gears heat treated? For 8620 and 9310 steels the tempering temperatures are in the 300F to 450F range.

https://www.emjmetals.com/pdf_indexe...loy_Steels.pdf

https://www.emjmetals.com/pdf_indexe...denability.pdf

Re: Advice of Dana 60 Gears
 

Do you guys use the a spreader to get the ring gear out and have preload?

Re: Advice of Dana 60 Gears
 

Herb McCandless told me to avoid the spreader unless absolutely necessary. If you're not careful with it, it will bend the housing. A box end wrench on the ring gear bolt, and carefully turning the yoke with push the carrier right out of the housing with little to no effort.

Re: Advice of Dana 60 Gears
 

I don't use the spreader. I have just enough preload where it takes a couple of taps with a plastic mallet to get the spool into the housing. I dont run much preload on the pinion either. Doing it this way there is little to no drag. I have been getting great gear life well over 1000 runs. Running either 6.17 or 5.86 ratios depending on the engine combo.

Re: Advice of Dana 60 Gears
 

Thanks to everyone for their help =
We are back together and ready for Vegas Natl's!