Topic: Ninja/ Yukon gears poor machining/ damaged straight out of the box

[slimbobaggins]

Edit 2: MC quickly took care of everything, great customer service and no regrets here!

Edit: Have spoke with MC via email and they are working on things now with Yukon.  I mentioned missing parts, they showed up a couple days later in a separate box, so that's no issue.  The gears apparently came straight from Yukon so it was no fault on MC's
side.

Hi folks,

Diff-tober is kind of rocky for me today, got my shipment today, I ordered 5.29's but they sent me 4.56's for the front axle. 

I'm sure the folks at Marlin will make it right, but I decided to inspect the gears since they're here, and I'm shocked at the quality of the machining.  I'm no gear expert, but we do machine stuff at work and this kind of quality would never pass.  So, when I contact them about the wrong gears, I'm going to ask them to swap out the rear 5.29's they sent me as well.

Would you accept the shape of these gears? I already knew that Ninja gears were Yukons... maybe they're the Yukons that don't pass quality control?

The pinon from the rear 5.29 set has a pretty decent chunk missing from the edge of one tooth, and a couple small flat spots on a different tooth.  The 4.56 pinion has a good sharp dent, almost like it got poked, on the edge of one tooth.

Am I off base for thinking the machining on these gears is unacceptable?

Edit: Sent an email to MC through the website, waiting to hear back.

[slimbobaggins [OP]]

Chunk from the 5.29 pinion

[slimbobaggins [OP]]

Side view of the 5.29 chunk

[slimbobaggins [OP]]

Flat spot on 5.29 tooth

[slimbobaggins [OP]]

More flat spots

[slimbobaggins [OP]]

Deep... puncture? On the 4.56 pinion

[Gnarly4X]

Hey slimbobaggins,

Sorry you have to go through this.

I’m not a gear expert by any stretch.

I was involved in off-roading for over 40 years, about 30 years active in 4-wheeing with Toyota pickups.

I don’t recall ever hearing a fellow 4-wheeler say “Oh crap my diff wore out”

We have all known about differential components that break for various reasons.

And as we know, swapping diff gears, Detroit lockers, ARBs, Lock Rights, etc. is very common.

So… my point is that those gears have a required level of design, tolerances, precision, and quality metallurgy that typically allows them to run for several hundred thousand miles without premature wear failure.

Again, that’s just MY experience.

In nearly everything that is manufactured, some production defects occur.  BUT.... allowing them to get into USE is very bad for the “user” and very bad for the reputation of the manufacturer – product liability.

Judging from the photos I see 3 basic issues:

First, there appears to be a quality issue.

Secondly, there is a part handling issue.

And lastly there is definitely a Quality Control or Quality Assurance issue.

Those apparent defects and visual damage would not be acceptable to me.

Marlin and Co. lives in very very small niche market, so anything other than a stellar reputation can lead to a loss of business, profit, and potential eventual closure of the company. 

I’m confident in saying that Marlin will promptly address your issues and make it right no matter what.

Gnarls  – that’s just my opinion, it may be worthless.

[slimbobaggins [OP]]

Hey slimbobaggins,

Sorry you have to go through this.

I’m not a gear expert by any stretch.

I was involved in off-roading for over 40 years, about 30 years active in 4-wheeing with Toyota pickups.

I don’t recall ever hearing a fellow 4-wheeler say “Oh crap my diff wore out”

We have all known about differential components that break for various reasons.

And as we know, swapping diff gears, Detroit lockers, ARBs, Lock Rights, etc. is very common.

So… my point is that those gears have a required level of design, tolerances, precision, and quality metallurgy that typically allows them to run for several hundred thousand miles without premature wear failure.

Again, that’s just MY experience.

In nearly everything that is manufactured, some production defects occur.  BUT.... allowing them to get into USE is very bad for the “user” and very bad for the reputation of the manufacturer – product liability.

Judging from the photos I see 3 basic issues:

First, there appears to be a quality issue.

Secondly, there is a part handling issue.

And lastly there is definitely a Quality Control or Quality Assurance issue.

Those apparent defects and visual damage would not be acceptable to me.

Marlin and Co. lives in very very small niche market, so anything other than a stellar reputation can lead to a loss of business, profit, and potential eventual closure of the company. 

I’m confident in saying that Marlin will promptly address your issues and make it right no matter what.

Gnarls  – that’s just my opinion, it may be worthless.

Hi Gnarls,

Marlin has a great reputation and I'm confident in them as a business.  There's no way they could inspect every gear set they ship and I know they're not at fault here for the machining.

I don't like overreacting due to lack of experience on my part.  Never having replaced r&p before now, I had no way to know if this quality was SOP (although I assumed its not)

Thank you for your response, its helpful to hear someone else would take issue with the machining, not just me.

[KDNICKELS]

We have already responded to your email regarding this issue. Please continue to communicate with us through phone and/or email to have this resolved. We are currently waiting to hear back from Yukon, since they are the ones who shipped these parts to you (we were out of stock at the time of purchase).

[slimbobaggins [OP]]

We have already responded to your email regarding this issue. Please continue to communicate with us through phone and/or email to have this resolved. We are currently waiting to hear back from Yukon, since they are the ones who shipped these parts to you (we were out of stock at the time of purchase).

Yes, thank you.