I just dropped my differential housing out of my IRS on my '03 Cobra due to a "whirring/whomping" noise while driving under 50 mph. I pulled the cover off the differential housing and cleaned everything up inside, and inspected the ring gear and pinion gear as best I could with everything still installed inside. The ring gear looked fine, and the pinion did too until I noticed that on the outer diameter of the pinion gear, there were chips missing on the outer edges (the forward portion of the gear) of each groove. My ring gear doesn't mesh this far forward at all, so I'm not sure if this is how all pinion gears are made, or if somehow these little chips were knocked out of the teeth of my pinion gear. This is the first time I've ever pulled a differential housing apart, so I wasn't sure what to expect during inspection. Does anyone know if my pinion and ring gear need to be changed, or if the teeth on my pinion are within limits?
Worn Pinion Gear?
- Thread starter THunterW
- Start date
Here are photos to give a better understanding of what I'm talking about. Notice the small chips at the end of each tooth on the pinion gear. Also, you can tell that this area is still dark and not shiny, so the ring gear isn't meshing with the pinion at this area and making contact. I'm still not sure if this is enough to warrant a gear replacement or if its good-to-go. Thoughts?
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