Breaking in Gears?

96mark8

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I will be finishing my 4.10 gear swap this weekend and was wondering about breaking the gears in.i have heard that you have to give your gears time to break in and take it easy. but for how long?
 
ummmm.... dont quote me on this because i have no clue. But 500 miles seems like a safe rule of thumb
 
alright thanks do i really have to change the fluid? i have seen enough of that damn diff for a lifetime:)
 
I did it all wrong, and got away with it.

We installed the rear pumkin new from ford, drove it 50ish miles at hiway speeds to the dragstrip and began to pummel the rear end for the next 200K.

I didn't change it after 500 miles.. it was closer to 5000 miles before I changed the lube.

*shrugs*
I wouldn't suggest such abuse to anyone, but I had a specific goal in mind.
"put the gears in, and make it to a bracket race".

had I not be "crammed up against" a race, I might have tried breaking them in in some manner.
 
I don't think not changing the gear oil is going to hurt anything. How many people do you know change it when they buy a brand new car? Same with the break in period. It's just cheap insurance and with deeper gears seems to keep them quieter. The Ford gears seem to be pretty quiet anyway.
 
+1 if the rear gears are properly set up there should be very little if any contamination of the fluid.

I will say that "by the time I changed mine" it definatly looked like it needed it/
 
I would just do the 500 mile change to make sure to clean out any contamination that made its way into the diff during the assembly.
 
yay for general rules of thumbs and making a safe guess at 500!!!! I rock! LMAO!!!!

XLRVIII, I did a similar thing with a turbo aplication. I swapped out a blown turbo for a brand new one. The only brake in time it got was the 30 minutes to the track, and then got BEAT TO HELL!!!!! I didnt so lucky though! LMAO! I blew the rotating center housing seal that day!
 
oh I and agree with both side of the fluid change debate. It isnt something yu MUST do, but it is something I would do. Your out a couple bucks and an hour or so, but you know your good to go.

500 safe mile... change fluid and then wail the piss out of it....

this part is mandatory or your gears get revoked, your sack removed and we announce your new name will be Michelle. :cool:
 
Me too. It went from the lift right to the dyno, then to the track. That was a few years back, and they are still going strong even with 500rwhp thrown at the 410's now. My pal's Scott and Jason - Ford Master Techs, did the work. If they are done correctly, there should be no worry.
 
yea IMHO it takes more skill to "predict" what your car will run down to the hundredth or thousandth of a second

vs.

holding the pedal down and hoping you get to the other end before the other guy's wallet
 
Heads up racing is more of a race about who has the bigger bank account.... all it takes to go fast really is MONEY.
 
Heads up racing is a complete waste of time unless the cars ets are close then it still comes down to who can cut the light.
I have seen tons of class races, one will always have a better bullet.
They spent more money.
Grudge racing is also kind of silly, a time slip will tell which car is faster.

I have a hard time understanding people who toss tons of money at these cars to get some magic et number caring less if the car is consistent.
Sure they can post a cool et but have no idea how to race.
They will run into a guy like Tommy and he will eat their lunch with a 14 sec car.
 
I did it all wrong, and got away with it.

We installed the rear pumkin new from ford, drove it 50ish miles at hiway speeds to the dragstrip and began to pummel the rear end for the next 200K.

I didn't change it after 500 miles.. it was closer to 5000 miles before I changed the lube.

*shrugs*
I wouldn't suggest such abuse to anyone, but I had a specific goal in mind.
"put the gears in, and make it to a bracket race".

had I not be "crammed up against" a race, I might have tried breaking them in in some manner.

Theres not really a wrong way. I had my car at the track 2 days and about 100 miles later... No problems 2k miles later
 
Heads up racing is more of a race about who has the bigger bank account.... all it takes to go fast really is MONEY.

Most of the time you're right... but for me, heads up racing is more of a race about who has the ingenuity and skill to beat the guy with a bigger bank account.

Before the current project, my Buick Apollo had a cammed high compression Cadillac 500, the car cost $400, the motor cost about $550, tires ran $400, and maybe $200 in odds and ends. The car ran consistent low 12s for half the money of a KB kit for a Foxbody...
 
Most of the time you're right... but for me, heads up racing is more of a race about who has the ingenuity and skill to beat the guy with a bigger bank account.

Before the current project, my Buick Apollo had a cammed high compression Cadillac 500, the car cost $400, the motor cost about $550, tires ran $400, and maybe $200 in odds and ends. The car ran consistent low 12s for half the money of a KB kit for a Foxbody...

I agree. If you know people and have "hookups" its not necessarily how much money you put into your car. Im building a stroker long block with 03 cobra heads and cams for under 2500. hehe
 

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