Chipped ring gear...what happened? (pics)

[BFJ93YJ]

I noticed my rear axle (ford 8.8) making weird and unusual noises and motions starting a few weeks ago. It would "pop" around every turn, and "pop" a lot when just going straight. I am used to it doing it sometimes because of the lockright, but now it's doing it all the time. It also feels like the gears are slipping at times, but it's hard to explain.

So yesterday it was finally warm enough (well, not warm, but not freezing:)) to look at it. So I opened the rear cover and found that three of the teeth on the ring gear are chipped pretty badly (see pics). Any ideas on how this happened? I had the gears installed about 10 months ago and have only driven it about 1,500 miles since then ( I did the break-in procedure for the gears), mostly getting to trails and wheeling. The gears were used when I got them. Here are some pics:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v189/BFJ93YJ/Miscellaneous/Chipped8.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v189/BFJ93YJ/Miscellaneous/1.jpg

[LeadFoot]

Unless a bolt got self removed and lodged itself between the ring and pinion contact, it looks like a bad setup/install. If it were me I would get some marking compound and see how the tooth contact pattern looks.

[NE-RokToy]

Not sure if its just the picture or what but the teath of the ring gear look like they have been damn hot (blueish tint) If the gears were intstalled poorly they will over heat and break

[Joe Dillard]

I agree with Leadfoot & NE_RokToy!
I would tear (or have it torn apart by a pro) the entire diff apart.

Also, I'd check EVERY single torque setting as it came apart, inspect the Lockrite, bearing wear, pinion nut torque, etc.

Are you 100% sure that the ring & pinion are a matched set? Who verified this since it's a used set?

[BFJ93YJ]

I am taking it to the guy who installed the gears on Monday. He is going to tear it apart and figure out why this happened. He's a pro, and has set-up hundreds of gears.

I'm pretty positive that the gears are a match. And I'm sure the guy who installed them would have caught it if they were not.

I'll also have him look at the gears about the blueish tint. They didn't look like they had a bluish tint to me, but I'm not a pro.

Thanks for the pointers, now I have more things to ask about.

[kwrangln]

Is it just a reflection in the pic or are there diagonal score marks on the carrier? If its scored, the pinion shifted and made contact with the carrier, and put load on the edges of the ring gear teeth breaking them.

[Jeeper80]

A better picture would make analyzing the problem easier. One question. Were the gears running quiet or were they a little noisy? Usually a poorly setup ring and pinion will be noisy.

[NE-RokToy]

-=- originally posted by kwrangln -=-
Is it just a reflection in the pic or are there diagonal score marks on the carrier? If its scored, the pinion shifted and made contact with the carrier, and put load on the edges of the ring gear teeth breaking them.

I saw this too but figured it was the reflection. If not your pinion nut loosened or pinion bearings are shot