break in period for richmond 4.11's?

[SS>GT]

i got my 4.11's installed on friday and am picking up my beast today. Problem is the dealership lost my paperwork that came with the gears after they installed them, so nowi dont know what my break in period is. does anyone know what is reccomended?

[Russell James]

Couple of short distant easy drives. Let it cool off between drives.

All the gear sets I've bought over the years, the instructions are to drive them easy. keep the first couple of drives short, no heavy throttle, cool off. Repeat.

After a couple hundred miles, I'd change the lube, then have at it full power at will.


From Richmond's web site:

BREAK IN
A new ring and pinion installation, especially a high numeric ratio with new bearings, can cause an excessive heat buildup in the rear end and cause softening of the gear teeth and bearings if a break in is not performed.
Street vehicles should be driven at normal street driving speed for approximately 10 miles, then stop and let cool for 30 minutes. Do this 2 to 3 times. Towing vehicles need approximately 200-300 miles of normal street driving before being used for towing.
On circle track race cars make approximately 6 to 8 laps at slow speed, then let cool for 30 minutes. Make 6 to 8 more laps at slow speed, then 2 to 3 laps at full speed, the let cool again for 30 minutes.
Drag cars need only an initial run-in since they are driven short distances and heat is not normally a problem with proper lube and backlash allowance.
NOTE: If after the above break in is performed, overheating of the rear end is suspected, repeat the final portion of the break in procedures.

[SS>GT]

Originally Posted by Russell James

Couple of short distant easy drives. Let it cool off between drives.

All the gear sets I've bought over the years, the instructions are to drive them easy. keep the first couple of drives short, no heavy throttle, cool off. Repeat.

After a couple hundred miles, I'd change the lube, then have at it full power at will.


From Richmond's web site:

BREAK IN
A new ring and pinion installation, especially a high numeric ratio with new bearings, can cause an excessive heat buildup in the rear end and cause softening of the gear teeth and bearings if a break in is not performed.
Street vehicles should be driven at normal street driving speed for approximately 10 miles, then stop and let cool for 30 minutes. Do this 2 to 3 times. Towing vehicles need approximately 200-300 miles of normal street driving before being used for towing.
On circle track race cars make approximately 6 to 8 laps at slow speed, then let cool for 30 minutes. Make 6 to 8 more laps at slow speed, then 2 to 3 laps at full speed, the let cool again for 30 minutes.
Drag cars need only an initial run-in since they are driven short distances and heat is not normally a problem with proper lube and backlash allowance.
NOTE: If after the above break in is performed, overheating of the rear end is suspected, repeat the final portion of the break in procedures.

Man, I went with synthetic oil in the dif..is the oil change necessary after break in? And so i basically need to just drive 10 miles and pull over for 30 min 3 times and its broken in?

[SSOOCH]

Originally Posted by SS>GT

Man, I went with synthetic oil in the dif..is the oil change necessary after break in? And so i basically need to just drive 10 miles and pull over for 30 min 3 times and its broken in?

I would suggest changing the oil after break in. You will have metal shavings produced during breakin. And yes, I would follow their break in suggestions.

[SS>GT]

Originally Posted by SSOOCH

I would suggest changing the oil after break in. You will have metal shavings produced during breakin. And yes, I would follow their break in suggestions.

well that was a waste of 100$ for synthetic oil lol. i will say though, the ride home was very quiet, couldnt hear any whining at all. only complaint i have is i wish they could adjust the speedo. it seems to be about 6-7 mph off.

[Russell James]

Originally Posted by SS>GT

Man, I went with synthetic oil in the dif..is the oil change necessary after break in? And so i basically need to just drive 10 miles and pull over for 30 min 3 times and its broken in?

Yes, I would do that for the first day. That will give them a couple of easy heat cycles. Then I would still take it easy for the first couple hundred miles, easy to moderate load. Then change the lube, then harder use/ WOT whenever you want.

New gears and especially clutch type diffs shed a lot of material. It will be a good idea to change it after a few hundred miles.

Not a waste of synthetic, they should always have synthetic in there. Even just for the break-in that will be dumped soon.

Why $100. It's only 1 qt. 1 qt of Royal Purple Max Gear lube with LS additive already in it is < $20.

[king pin]

Originally Posted by SS>GT

i got my 4.11's installed on friday and am picking up my beast today. Problem is the dealership lost my paperwork that came with the gears after they installed them, so nowi dont know what my break in period is. does anyone know what is reccomended?

Dealer did the work?? what kind of$$$ to do?

[steeleshark2]

Breakin periods maybe 20 miles at a time. Then cool down for at least a couple hours. After that, be easy on the gears, stay below 4k rpm. I did 500 miles on my gears then chaged the oil and then had fun!!

[fldrummer]

Originally Posted by SS>GT

well that was a waste of 100$ for synthetic oil lol. i will say though, the ride home was very quiet, couldnt hear any whining at all. only complaint i have is i wish they could adjust the speedo. it seems to be about 6-7 mph off.

Speedo will be off by a percentage. The faster you go, the more off it will be. You have to adjust it in the computer's tune.

[flyby]

500 miles of mostly stop and go and very little if any highway constant speed miles

[curts11]

What dealer was it? I'm looking to get a set installed.