Superior Gear Quality
JK Enthusiast
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 167
Likes: 0
From: Arizona
There are alot of very qualified installers having setup and noise issues with Superior JK gears. Superior knows about some of these issues and will warranty the gears upon request. That is good for the manufactuer to warranty the product. It is not good for the guy with the jeep having to pay for labor twice because of a defect in the gears. Don't get me wrong, all manufactuers have defects from time to time but the Superior issue is bigger than the occasional defective gear set.
Mikes install suggestions are good info but nothing a qualified gear installer would not know about. I personally don't know of any qualified gear installer who does not own a case spreader.
I have noisy 5.13 superior gears and do not wish to chance another set only to have them noisy and thus incurring more labor charges.
Another issue is that the JK is quieter than the previous jeeps and gear whine will be noticed in most of the hardtop jeeps.
Maybe once they get the cut right on the gears these posts will reduce. I know they are working on it but until then I am going to be out the installation costs just because it is a hit or miss install chance with the gears.
When talking to other gear manufactuers the gear noise should be none or very minimal and only then during breakin.
Mikes install suggestions are good info but nothing a qualified gear installer would not know about. I personally don't know of any qualified gear installer who does not own a case spreader.
I have noisy 5.13 superior gears and do not wish to chance another set only to have them noisy and thus incurring more labor charges.
Another issue is that the JK is quieter than the previous jeeps and gear whine will be noticed in most of the hardtop jeeps.
Maybe once they get the cut right on the gears these posts will reduce. I know they are working on it but until then I am going to be out the installation costs just because it is a hit or miss install chance with the gears.
When talking to other gear manufactuers the gear noise should be none or very minimal and only then during breakin.
Super Moderator
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 1,750
Likes: 89
From: Arizona
JK Enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 284
Likes: 0
From: Redmond, WA
This is a great site. Where else can you get distributors, manufacturers and customers to communicate directly with one another on a routine basis to solve our problems, or at the very minimum, shed some light on complicated situations.
A sincere Thankyou to PJK and all the users, reps and manufacturers.
A sincere Thankyou to PJK and all the users, reps and manufacturers.
X2...!!!
JK Enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 299
Likes: 0
From: Oak Harbor, WA
Superior doesn't manufacture all of it's own gears any more. They contract outside to increase production capacity (that's on their web site). It's my understanding that Yukon and Superior are using the same manufacturer. I don't know for sure.
JK Junkie
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 2,288
Likes: 0
From: Treasure Coast, Florida
If anyone is having any issues with our gears at all please give us a call.
My experience with the JK gears besides the manufacturing aspect:
I was just in Abu Dhabi, UAE last month and set up 7 JK's for a Prince over there with one of our distributors, Mell Wade owner of Off-road Evolution in Fullerton, CA. When setting up the JK's we noticed that without a case spreader we could not get enough carrier bearing preload on the diff case. This would cause the case to move in the housing slightly, which would ultimately caused a whining noise on decal as the beveled side of the gear would ramp up the pinion beveled cut. One case we popped the cover off of we noticed, even after using the stock carrier shim total count, that the case was still lose (we could move it .005 with a pry bar and a dial indicator showing the movement). In another instance we added .007 carrier shims because we had the same issue. These were all using the stock trac-lok and no new carrier bearings as they were low mileage vehicles and the JK shims on the outside of the carrier.
These JK Non Rubicon housings (different then the Rubicon, as it has larger carrier bearing bore) were all over the board stock. From a wide range in pinion shim counts to carrier bearing shim counts. I made a spreadsheet and SPC chart that really shows the variances in these housings.
We want all Superior Axle & Gear customers to be satisfied with their purchase. Please call us if you have a problem so we can help out. We have over 3000 sets of JK gears shipped last year and not allot of problems for a new design DANA "31", DANA "45" and DANA"46", which we all call the 30 and 44 still. These 30 and 44's are totally different animals.
In this thread it seems to be mostly positive, a few issues and some “I have heard” comments. We want ALL Superior Axle & Gear customers to be happy . Call us so we can help.
888/522-2953.
Thanks,
Mike Denton, Jr.
My experience with the JK gears besides the manufacturing aspect:
I was just in Abu Dhabi, UAE last month and set up 7 JK's for a Prince over there with one of our distributors, Mell Wade owner of Off-road Evolution in Fullerton, CA. When setting up the JK's we noticed that without a case spreader we could not get enough carrier bearing preload on the diff case. This would cause the case to move in the housing slightly, which would ultimately caused a whining noise on decal as the beveled side of the gear would ramp up the pinion beveled cut. One case we popped the cover off of we noticed, even after using the stock carrier shim total count, that the case was still lose (we could move it .005 with a pry bar and a dial indicator showing the movement). In another instance we added .007 carrier shims because we had the same issue. These were all using the stock trac-lok and no new carrier bearings as they were low mileage vehicles and the JK shims on the outside of the carrier.
These JK Non Rubicon housings (different then the Rubicon, as it has larger carrier bearing bore) were all over the board stock. From a wide range in pinion shim counts to carrier bearing shim counts. I made a spreadsheet and SPC chart that really shows the variances in these housings.
We want all Superior Axle & Gear customers to be satisfied with their purchase. Please call us if you have a problem so we can help out. We have over 3000 sets of JK gears shipped last year and not allot of problems for a new design DANA "31", DANA "45" and DANA"46", which we all call the 30 and 44 still. These 30 and 44's are totally different animals.
In this thread it seems to be mostly positive, a few issues and some “I have heard” comments. We want ALL Superior Axle & Gear customers to be happy
. Call us so we can help.888/522-2953.
Thanks,
Mike Denton, Jr.
JK Enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 102
Likes: 0
From my source (very involved annyonomous person) Yukon purchased a pallet of gears from Superior to use until march because Superior has a contract with the manufacture to only build gears for them. After that contract runs out then you will see many other companies selling JK gears even though they will likely be from the same manufacture. Having install both they are in fact the same gear at least for now.
This is a very common procedure in the gear industry. Superior, Yukon, Motive etc.. do not make gears they buy gears direct and resell them. Different companies have different contracts with manufactures so they all swap gears between them. Also different gear makers have contracts to only build certain gears, like compnay X builds Dana gears where company Y builds GM gears and compnay Z builds Toyota gears.
BTW to my knowledge none of the major gear companies (Superior, Yukon, Motive, Precision, Richmond, etc... buy or sell gears from China. Most of the gears come from India, Italy, Mexico, & Korea. Cheap brand gears mostly come from China most notably Genuine Gear's cheap line, supposedly their G2 line of gears are the same as the others.
Also, although there might be a very small % of gears that will be noisy even with proper setup, most gear whine comes from improper installation mostly pinion depth and backlash.
JK Enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 167
Likes: 0
From: Austin, Texas
I have the Superior 5.13s in my JK Rubicon. There is a slight whine from the rear on deceleration. You have to listen real hard to hear it. My wife and most passengers would never even notice it. I unfortunately am a noise freak so I hear everything. It doesn't bother me that they whine slightly. I doubt that it will affect their longevity in any way.
-Tom
-Tom