Broken Gear Tooth Repair
Broken or cracked gear teeth — when weld repair and reprofiling is legitimate, when the gear has to be recut, and what each path costs.
Broken or cracked gear teeth — when weld repair and reprofiling is legitimate, when the gear has to be recut, and what each path costs.
Broken gear tooth repair has three honest answers, and which one applies depends on the gear, the location of the damage and the duty. On large, slow-speed gears — girth gears, kiln and mill drives, ring gears — a single broken or chipped tooth can often be weld-repaired and reprofiled in place, at a small fraction of the cost of a new gear.
On high-speed or high-load gearing, weld repair is usually the wrong answer. Heat-affected zone properties and the risk of a repeat failure at speed mean the correct fix is cutting a new gear to the original tooth geometry. We reverse-engineer from the existing gear when no print or OEM support exists.
The third case is a spalled or pitted flank rather than a broken tooth. That is a lubrication or load story, and the fix is regrinding or recutting the gear set together with correcting whatever caused it — usually alignment, lubricant selection or contamination.
In every case, inspection comes first: hardness check, magnetic particle or dye penetrant for cracks beyond the visible damage, and tooth geometry measurement against AGMA tolerance. A tooth that broke because the gear was already cracked through the root will break again if only the visible damage is addressed.
Text it to (641) 519-6270 or use the app.
Repair price, replacement price, cash offer — in writing.
We arrange pickup; emergency jobs ship free both ways.
8–12 days standard, 24–72 hr rush, warrantied.