Is the corrosion on this ring gear and other area a deal breaker? The corrosion is only on half of the ring and the center part (not sure what it's called, 2nd pic). I'm new to the whole 9" world and was wondering if it's usable.
I would use it myself . It will clean up with use . As a teenager on a limited budget I have traveled many a mile on a twin to your gear set . I have seen many rusted as yours , that seems to be the part of the gear that is out of the oil for many years .
In my humble opinion, your could clean up these gears, real well, and maybe get away with using it. I would use some of those little fiber scrubbing pads you can use on a die grinder or air sander, maybe some Scotchbrite......I would NOT use any sandpaper or sandblasting methods. The most obvious risk would be noise, the secondary risk might be gear tooth failure in a high performance application. The rust on the carrier assembly should be cleaned up, but appears it is inconsequential. If you already own it, you have little to lose by working with it. If you don't own it yet, either pass or buy it 'cheep'. Ray
This is definitely not a high HP situation. Just a big Merc cruiser. I may just clean it up and roll it. I like how the 3rd member can be swapped easily as opposed to the 10 bolt chev I was running. Thanks.
What about soaking it in molasses and water for a week, then rinse it off and dry with compressed air so it doesn't flash rust and reinspect to see how it cleaned up? You'd then need to oil it up again so it didn't rust being out of the car.
I cleaned up an 8" that looked like that by carefully scraping the rust off and polishing with a scuff pad. I rinsed everything with brake cleaner and ran it for several years before selling it. It went in a cruiser, not a high performance car. Gary
Looks like the rust covers half or less of each tooth, so it's probably going to be fine. Try to get the rust off as much as you can.
I have used similar gears in the past with success, may have a little gear noise or you could get lucky. One thing I would do is replace or at least disassemble and inspect the bearings before putting it in your vehicle.
If ring gear looks like that the bearings more than likely have pitted where they rested on the race. Then the races will have divot's here bearing sat.
I have seen semi ring gears that looked worse than that from sitting or bring drive thru highwater , and all they did to them was change the fluid , run them for a week and then change the fluid again and inspect the gears and bearings , put a big magnet in the housing to catch the particles , one truck we did is still running this way 20 years later with no noise . but check the bearing roller faces and races for rust as if they are it will come undone quickly as its thru the case hardened surface .
Sounds like I'll be taking it to the local 9" guru and have him take a peek at it. Thanks for all the help.
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