lehman rear end

[jamieryder57]

has any body had problems with lehman rearends. i have a jackal on suzuki c90
3 years old 13,000 miles had 4 rearends.

[Ol' Grey]

I do maintenance for an owner of a Suzuki/Lehman, VS800, with approx. 11,000 miles but no problems yet.

4 failures on your's with only 13,000 miles ? *ouch* Did you have warranty protection ? What did they say the problem or problems were ?

[Lee H. Mann]

has any body had problems with lehman rearends. i have a jackal on suzuki c90
3 years old 13,000 miles had 4 rearends.

Axle bearing failures are one thing, there was a bunch of Chinese axle bearings utilized in some of their rearends but if you had rearend gear failure in that C-90, it was most likely a pinion flange bolt that was not properly torqued.

Are you re-using any old parts for these repairs and are you having these repairs done by a Lehman dealer ???

[jamieryder57]

each time rearend was sent back to lehman new one installed. one was howling bad, two started getting way to much slack one disentergrated while going down hyway

[Ol' Grey]

Howling can be from low differential fluid level or extremely worn gears.

If it was howling under throttle, but not on decel, it could have been incorrect pinion preload. Not enough pinion preload can cause too much slop. Too much pinion preload can put too much pressure on the pinion bearings, causing overheating and ultimately destroy the pinion bearings.

Axle bearings can also fail from lack of adequate lubrication (low differential fluid level). If there were or are any Chinese axle bearings in use, I'd consider Chinese axle bearings to be JUNK even before they were originally installed!

In your case, it may very well be pinion preload and/or drive shaft related and a Lehman dealership that obviously hasn't instilled much consumer confidence. Four failures in 13,000 miles is unacceptable.

[Lee H. Mann]

each time rearend was sent back to lehman new one installed. one was howling bad, two started getting way to much slack one disentergrated while going down hyway

I believe that Lehman has EATON manufacture the rearend assemblies. Chinese parts have become mainstream and it is difficult to find USA manufactured and assembled hardware today.

This sounds like a pinion bearing(s) issue and maybe the pinion flange was not properly torqued or preloaded like Ol grey said. The rearend is flipped so that under acceleration load the front pinion bearing is taking the pressure and under deceleration the rear (larger) pinion bearing gets the load. If the preload or pinion is not tight, the nut will back off and cause a major catastrophic failure.

Loctite the pinion nut with RED loctite to avoid this failure.

[jamieryder57]

each time lehman sent complete rearend , to replace bad one it was under warranty each time. they are still going warranty any other problems even though 3 year warranty is up.

[Ol' Grey]

each time lehman sent complete rearend , to replace bad one it was under warranty each time. they are still going warranty any other problems even though 3 year warranty is up.

It truly is commendable that Lehman is standing behind their product, but you're a more patient man than I........after the 2nd failure, I would have been inquiring about the Lemon Law to see if I could get my money back.

[Ol' Grey]

I believe that Lehman has EATON manufacture the rearend assemblies. Chinese parts have become mainstream and it is difficult to find USA manufactured and assembled hardware today.

This sounds like a pinion bearing(s) issue and maybe the pinion flange was not properly torqued or preloaded like Ol grey said. The rearend is flipped so that under acceleration load the front pinion bearing is taking the pressure and under deceleration the rear (larger) pinion bearing gets the load. If the preload or pinion is not tight, the nut will back off and cause a major catastrophic failure.

Loctite the pinion nut with RED loctite to avoid this failure.

Jim, Please understand that this is not meant as a personal attack against you as I'm sure you're a very decent guy. It's more a commentary on the evils of outsourcing. I didn't say anything at the time, but it is worthy of mention.

When you say: "Chinese parts have become mainstream and it is difficult to find USA manufactured and assembled hardware today."......yes, I've no doubt that it's difficult to find USA manufactured and assembled hardware, but it certainly can't be impossible.

Chinese "everything" seems to have become mainstream. Companies are jumping on the outsourcing bandwagon and taking on the Corporate mindset of "maximize profits, quality be damned". American consumers and workers have been taking it on the chin for decades now. One look at the pathetic state of our economy shows where all that outsourcing has led to. End of rant..........

[gympy]

OL GRAY. I agree, I agree, I agree with your statement. Roger