Need re-gear advice
- Thread starter Beepdoot99
- Start date
Make that three. Koyo's are good bearings IMHO.
And to help clear up the confusion on where Revolution gears are made, it is S. Korea. Revolution only packs Circle K gears. Other brands may or may not be Circle K, depends on what is currently available. I personally really like Revolution because they set up easy and run quiet. With them always being Circle K gives me consistency as well.
I got a set of Revolution 4.56 gears from Ricky at 4LowPart about a week ago, took around 3 days to get here. I'm a bit leery with auto parts on Amazon after paying Mopar prices for a crank sensor and getting a Chinese knock off.
Same thing happened to me with advertised Spicer Ball joints...
I can't speak for @Jamison C but from my experience, the critical dimensions are the same (such as cone OD or cup ID) but there are some differences in non-critical dimensions, such as roller height, race thickness/taper, etc.
I've seen this many times actually, which is why I have a few different versions of set-up bearings. Even within the manufacturer there are changes that may add to installation variances. For example, when I set up my Dodge Dana 60, I used a set of Timken bearings (new MFG with different lettering shape). My set-up bearings were older (although unused) with the longer/skinny lettering (I think I got these about 5 years ago). When I did the setup, I got exactly what I was expecting. However, after install with the newer bearings, I was still within spec but outside my comfort zone (which thankfully with a bearing puller wasn't an issue).
Same concept when using set-up bearings from different MFGs. Sometimes you're close and they final install stays within spec. Other times you can run into an issue. My suggestion for those without proper bearing pullers is to either get one - or get a new set of spare bearing cones that you can make into setup bearings. The D30HP I just setup for my friend was with Koyos but the install kit used Timkens. After the final setup, my backlash went from 0.007" to just under spec at 0.005". I haven't decided if I'm going to let it be (it's a nice pattern all around) or pull out some shim on the left side (I probably won't being a front axle - the extra 0.001" of BL won't really hurt much in this case and it's got excellent preload).
I have set up many axles using both Timken and Koyo and have never had the problems you are describing. I've measured the bearings before and the are the same where it matters. I have a set of Timken setup bearings and installing Koyo bearings at final install have never given me any issues.
As a more recent example - had a Ford 8.8 that needed an extra 0.020” shims (0.010” + 0.010”) after pressing on permanent bearings (in this case I went Koyo to Timken).
A few weeks ago, we did @Dale W Dana 30/44 and had no issue using matching Timkens (I actually had to make a new set of Dana 30 carrier bearings since I lent mine out to a friend and haven’t seen them back lol).