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Re: Optima 'HARDENED' final pinion gear.
Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2012 11:00 am
by Jay Dub
Yes, when new the parts are tight. And there is nothing to be done in the gearbox. They will wear in however. The outer gears can be adjusted though if you slighly oblong the mounting hole for the cluster gear shaft. This will allow you to move the cluster gear shaft away from the small counter gear, providing a little more initial clearance. -Jeff
Re: Optima 'HARDENED' final pinion gear.
Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2012 8:12 pm
by mjtown
Jay Dub wrote:Yes, when new the parts are tight. And there is nothing to be done in the gearbox. They will wear in however. The outer gears can be adjusted though if you slighly oblong the mounting hole for the cluster gear shaft. This will allow you to move the cluster gear shaft away from the small counter gear, providing a little more initial clearance. -Jeff
Cool - thanks mate. I hoped that that was what to expect and that it wasn't because the new rear gearbox with the belt drive kit was moulded incorrectly with bore centrelines set too close! That would have been a pain!
I think I'll leave the counter gear shaft and it can all wear in with the diff - it's just take a bit longer because the hardened final pinion won't wear much
I'll just need to run a high torque motor for a while!
Re: Optima 'HARDENED' final pinion gear.
Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 6:05 pm
by highwayracer
mjtown wrote: The belt drive feels rough when I operate it by hand. Initially I thought that it was the belt drive pulley being installed too tight, but now I've worked out that it's because the final pinion to diff gear backlash is very tight. There's no apparent way to adjust it - the centre to centre distance is set by the position of the bores in the gearbox.
Is this normal? It seems odd. Do you guys know if it will just 'bed in' after some use or is there something that I can do?
Cheers!
Mike
I've experienced that too...I found that the gearbox screws were too tight. Once I loosened them, the gearbox was smooth again.
Re: Optima 'HARDENED' final pinion gear.
Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 7:53 pm
by mjtown
highwayracer wrote: I've experienced that too...I found that the gearbox screws were too tight. Once I loosened them, the gearbox was smooth again.
Do you mean the three self-tapping that hold the two halves together?
Sorry that this has drifted off topic!!!
Re: Optima 'HARDENED' final pinion gear.
Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 7:58 pm
by mjtown
By the way, there's a new OT-76 hard final pinion for sale here:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110951005595&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:AU:1123
It doesn't look too expensive - about 25 Euros inc freight.
Re: Optima 'HARDENED' final pinion gear.
Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 2:50 pm
by Coelacanth
25 Euros for a single gear is WAY too expensive, in my books.
Re: Optima 'HARDENED' final pinion gear.
Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 4:27 pm
by Mr. ED
It is a lot more than the perfect alternative mentioned earlier in this thread.