New gears

Whats the best way to break in gears on a trail only rig?

From what I've been told normally drive 15-20 miles to get them warm then cool off again. Do you just need to do this once? 500 miles or so do a fluid change. Not sure how I can drive that far with it not plated, and I live in a subdivision with bored cops so don't think I could drive around my house. Now I maybe getting gears in the front soon, but have a trip planned 2nd weekend of March so hoping I can break em in before that trip.

Gears are broken in by getting them warm and then letting them cool. They won't get hot on the trail at that low speed. Jump out and put your hand on the diff cover and if is above warm let it cool. I did gears and trailered it straight to an off road park and they never got rally warm so I just kept going. They were great.

Stumpalump said:

Gears are broken in by getting them warm and then letting them cool. They won't get hot on the trail at that low speed. Jump out and put your hand on the diff cover and if is above warm let it cool. I did gears and trailered it straight to an off road park and they never got rally warm so I just kept going. They were great.

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that sounds like a great plan for distroying a brand new gear set
break them in first or risk breaking the gears
in the end its your choice but i would want to spend the money to replace the gears i just installed

gears work harden which means as they ride on each other the metal slowly becomes harder and harder making the surfaces stronger this is hard to accomplish without driving and geting miles under your belt. heat is the other concern, because new bearings are usually tighter they create more heat and if not carefull can overheat and burn themselves up. my best piece of advice is to go find some easy dirt roads or super light trails and drive around for a day or so checking for heat every so often.

jack stands and some form of weight for the gas petal or cruise control, spin them up and let it run for about 20 mins, let them cool for an hour or two, repeat 3 or 4 times. change oil, hit the trails p/s make sure you install tires b4 you spin the axle, a lil weight will keep the gears from "jumping" around unloaded....