[UTEngineer]

Installed a 4:30 gear ratio and an Edge Pulsar in my 2019 L5P over the Christmas Holiday last week to correct for my lift w/ 35 inch tires.

No issues with the gear install ... and to my surprise ... no trouble codes.

Gears are factory quiet ... except for a very very faint gear meshing sound when I let off the accelerator between 20 and 40 mph ... was told that will go away when they break in.

Only have 75 miles since install ... so still breaking them in to ~ 500 miles.

It is really nice to have my factory performance and shift points back.

The only issue is the Pulsar speedometer correction is off ... when I am going 60 mph (gps) ... my speedometer says I am going 80 mph.

Called Edge today regarding the speedometer correction issue and they are sending me a replacement Pulsar to install.

Not impressed with Edge’s technical support ... the issue is incorrect software programming (gear ratio correction + tire size correction) ... not a hardware issue ... so sending me a replacement Pulsar won’t fix anything and it will waste a couple hours of my time replacing it.

Since Edge’s office is only 30 minutes from my work ... offered to bring them my truck to diagnose the issue. But they declined due to COVID concerns. Funny part is I had COVID in October ... so per the CDC not able to get COVID again for 90 days. Even shared this and they declined ... not really surprised ... oh well.

I did however let them know my Banks iDash accurately compensated for gear ratio plus tire size changes ... so what’s the Pulsar’s issue ? 😉

 

[CDmax16]

Curious why you ended up with 4.30’s instead of 4.56’s?

 

[UTEngineer]

Curious why you ended up with 4.30’s instead of 4.56’s?

RPM on the highway ... the 4:30’s tach around 2000 rpm at 80 mph ... which is very similar to stock.

Don’t get me wrong ... I really, really wanted the 4:56‘s ... but then reality set in that we tow our travel trailer 6 to 7 hours straight with our kids in the back watching movies ... and 2,000 rpm gets the better fuel mileage with less hum from the engine.

Also, the consensus was 4:56’s are best for 37’s to maintain factory rpm’s ... per the DMAX Store ...

Gear Ratio Recommendations (Info Only) | DMAX Store

dmaxstore.com

 

[CDmax16]

I bet you can’t wait to get them broken in, and feel how hard it pulls.😎

 

[ChevyTech77]

Not to beat up the gear install but I’ve installed quite a few ring/pinion sets and I’ve never had a gear noise when I was done nor have I ever had to tell a customer that they will have a gear noise until the gears are “broken in”. Ring/pinions are sold in a set because they are lapped in together at the factory to make them a matched set. The only break in that I would recommend would be on a tight/new diff with all new bearings. That I would recommend 500 miles. Ring and pinion swap shouldn’t really need any break in. If it’s noisy then it is set up wrong, in my experience. I would get this noise fixed before you go after your transfer case. If even one diff is noisy, it will be amplified through the entire driveline in 4WD.

 

[UTEngineer]

Not to beat up the gear install but I’ve installed quite a few ring/pinion sets and I’ve never had a gear noise when I was done nor have I ever had to tell a customer that they will have a gear noise until the gears are “broken in”. Ring/pinions are sold in a set because they are lapped in together at the factory to make them a matched set. The only break in that I would recommend would be on a tight/new diff with all new bearings. That I would recommend 500 miles. Ring and pinion swap shouldn’t really need any break in. If it’s noisy then it is set up wrong, in my experience. I would get this noise fixed before you go after your transfer case. If even one diff is noisy, it will be amplified through the entire driveline in 4WD.

No worries on beating up the gear install ... I don’t mind constructive criticism ... as long as it come with sound advise on how to fix something. Side Note: I ain’t your average engineer ... I sell and service large industrial equipment (200+ ft diameter minerals thickeners) with drive units that consist of several individual large pinion stacks with 13,000 to 1 integrated gear reduction reducers that couple to bull gears applying a total torque loading of over 1,000,000+ lb-ft. We sometimes find ******* ways to pull pinion stacks using chain falls and carefully hitting the side of the pinion stack with a 16 lb. sledge hammer when they bind because the customer is to cheap to hire a crane ... so this ain’t my first hands-on project.

But back to the thread ...

I purchased the complete install kits that included new bearings, seals, etc. along with the ring and pinions. Below is a weblink to the kit I purchased. Therefore it was more than just a simple ring gear and pinion swap. As you put it ... it was a tight / new diff with all new bearings. Did this so Nitro has no wiggle room on any warranty claims. I even purchased their expensive diff oil. So you are correct on the 500 mile break in ... at about 100 miles currently. Again, it is a very very faint whine (actually a “whirring“) noise that only happens when decelerating between 40 and 20 mph ... or under very light throttle maintaining those same speeds. A “whirring” noise while decelerating at any speed(s) is most likely caused by a loose pinion bearing preload. However, I have documented proof that all final torque settings were within the proper tolerances stated in the Nitro Gear installation manual included with the gears. As an FYI ... fairly sure the noise is only coming from the front differential. But no worries ... I am not afraid to crack those diffs back open and change the pinion preload setting. Will let ya all know when & how round 2 works out.

As for the transfer case issue ... bad front output shaft bearing ... just like I called it. Funny part ... I have documented warranty inspection proof when the truck only had 500 miles bringing it in to the dealer with this issue ... long before the lift kit or any accessories were installed. Service department told me these trucks are just noisy in 4WD back at 500 miles. They looked pretty foolish today because their first technician missed it ... and I knew he did ... but I am a patient man / engineer ... and now they are fixing it under warranty ... so all is good in the Salt Lake hood. 😉

GM Duramax Nitro Gear Package

2011+ Chevrolet & GMC 2500 and 3500HD, Nitro Gear Package, Select Ratio. Nitro Gear & Axle strives to provide the highest quality differential components available.

www.nitro-gear.com

 

[UTEngineer]

I bet you can’t wait to get them broken in, and feel how hard it pulls.😎

You are correct ... can’t hardly wait to get on it.

I have a heavy right foot ... and this 500 mile “take it easy“ break in period is killing me !

But too much time and money invested ... so I been driving like an old granny. 😉

 

[HighLinerMI]

Didn’t you previously have a Derringer installed? If so did you have to uninstall it with the Pulsar?

 

[UTEngineer]

Didn’t you previously have a Derringer installed? If so did you have to uninstall it with the Pulsar?

You are correct ... I previously had a Derringer installed. (back in its original box collecting dust on my garage work bench)

Never a good idea to stack tuners (Derringer + Pulsar) ... that could potentially cause catastrophic damage to the engine and / or the fuel injection system.

 

[HighLinerMI]

 

[Ottowood]

No worries on beating up the gear install ... I don’t mind constructive criticism ... as long as it come with sound advise on how to fix something. Side Note: I ain’t your average engineer ... I sell and service large industrial equipment (200+ ft diameter minerals thickeners) with drive units that consist of several individual large pinion stacks with 13,000 to 1 integrated gear reduction reducers that couple to bull gears applying a total torque loading of over 1,000,000+ lb-ft. We sometimes find ******* ways to pull pinion stacks using chain falls and carefully hitting the side of the pinion stack with a 16 lb. sledge hammer when they bind because the customer is to cheap to hire a crane ... so this ain’t my first hands-on project.

But back to the thread ...

I purchased the complete install kits that included new bearings, seals, etc. along with the ring and pinions. Below is a weblink to the kit I purchased. Therefore it was more than just a simple ring gear and pinion swap. As you put it ... it was a tight / new diff with all new bearings. Did this so Nitro has no wiggle room on any warranty claims. I even purchased their expensive diff oil. So you are correct on the 500 mile break in ... at about 100 miles currently. Again, it is a very very faint whine (actually a “whirring“) noise that only happens when decelerating between 40 and 20 mph ... or under very light throttle maintaining those same speeds. A “whirring” noise while decelerating at any speed(s) is most likely caused by a loose pinion bearing preload. However, I have documented proof that all final torque settings were within the proper tolerances stated in the Nitro Gear installation manual included with the gears. As an FYI ... fairly sure the noise is only coming from the front differential. But no worries ... I am not afraid to crack those diffs back open and change the pinion preload setting. Will let ya all know when & how round 2 works out.

As for the transfer case issue ... bad front output shaft bearing ... just like I called it. Funny part ... I have documented warranty inspection proof when the truck only had 500 miles bringing it in to the dealer with this issue ... long before the lift kit or any accessories were installed. Service department told me these trucks are just noisy in 4WD back at 500 miles. They looked pretty foolish today because their first technician missed it ... and I knew he did ... but I am a patient man / engineer ... and now they are fixing it under warranty ... so all is good in the Salt Lake hood. 😉

GM Duramax Nitro Gear Package

2011+ Chevrolet & GMC 2500 and 3500HD, Nitro Gear Package, Select Ratio. Nitro Gear & Axle strives to provide the highest quality differential components available.

www.nitro-gear.com

What did your gear pattern look like? Did you get pictures of it?

 

[Ottowood]

The pinion depth is what is critical for even contact on the drive and coast side. If the backlash is in specs and the gears make noise, your pinion depth is off.
The preload might cause bearing noise.
It would have to be very loose to cause gear noise.
Now, I'm no engineer, so I might be wrong... I'm just giving input.

 

[CDmax16]

You are correct ... can’t hardly wait to get on it.

I have a heavy right foot ... and this 500 mile “take it easy“ break in period is killing me !

But too much time and money invested ... so I been driving like an old granny. 😉

Well

 

[UTEngineer]

What did your gear pattern look like? Did you get pictures of it?

Just looked for pictures on my phone and forgot that I dumped all my pictures & videos earlier this week onto on a hard drive at my office in town. Use the camera feature on my phone to document the equipment we work on at the mine sites and needed to dump the pictures for use at work. I really need to separate my personal vs. work pictures, but to lazy to carry a digital camera. Anyway, I will look for them next week when I am back in the office.

The void where the marking compound was rubbed off was centered between the top & bottom of the tooth and centered between the heel & toe of the tooth ... and we checked it on about three teeth at 4 different spots tangentially on the ring gear. Will be opening up the front differential that is making the noise this coming week an will update this post with what I find.

 

[Ottowood]

 

[UTEngineer]

Update: Edge finally admitted today that they do not have the information in the Pulsar for a 4:30 axle ratio. They told me that is because it is not a common gear ratio. Rather than argue with them, I simply pointed out that nowhere in the Edge marketing materials, instruction manuals, on their website, etc. is there any mention of only certain axle ratios being supported regarding the Pulsar product. So I now have an appointment this Friday where they will hook up to my truck at the Edge headquarters in Ogden, Utah and perform the R&D for a 4:30 axle ratio to correct my speedometer and make sure my cruise control is operable at all speeds. This was a painful process but Edge is doing what it takes to make the Pulsar work correctly in my truck with a 4:30 gear ratio. Just glad I live near the Powerteq (Edge) headquarters. Will update this thread with the results when I get my truck back.

 

[CDmax16]

That sucks, but it is cool that they stepped up and you get to see them do r&d and fix it.

 

[Melonhead1102]

I'm glad they're trying to make it right. I hope they're going to be compensating you in some way for the use of your equipment for their R&D. I'd say a refund of the Pulsar would be in order. They're going to use the information they glean from testing your truck to improve their market standing, so you should be rewarded for that.

Either way, I'm still watching this thread closely. I think I'm going all in this year on my truck upgrades, and I'm trying to decide on which path. The Pulsar is tempting due to the price point compared to the Calibrated Power or PPEI options.

 

[UTEngineer]

The drama continues with Edge. Got my truck back today with the speedometer issue corrected, but cruise control still does not work. Edge is pursuing a possible fix in a different direction. But there is no guarantee the fix will work. However, odds are good it will. Unfortunately I can’t release any information on the fix for now, but I will update this post when I am allowed to release more information. I can tell you right now that you cannot do an axle ratio change with the Pulsar without losing your cruise cruise control. Frustrating part is I asked that exact question to the Edge customer service person before purchasing the Pulsar and changing out my axle ratio. This was the conversation back then starting with me. “Can you please go check with the applications engineer to make sure I will not have any issues with my cruise control after changing my axle ratio”. The engineer responded “you will not have an issue with your cruise control”. I responded “unfortunately that is not what I heard, I heard there is an issue with correcting the wheel speed sensor vs the transfer case speed sensor, and I want to make sure Edge has fixed this issue”. The Edge engineer responded “You will not have have an issue with your cruise control, not sure why you feel that is a potential issue”. The last part of that response should have raised a red flag. Luckily I have most of this conversation in emails. So I trusted what I was told and here I am without cruise control. Just hoping they make it right and their “fix” gives me back my cruise control ... because putting the stock axle ratio back in the truck to get cruise control back is not cool. It would end up being a huge waste of time and money. But let’s sit back and see what Edge does to make this right in the next few months. This is when you truly see if a company stands behind their products. More to come on this situation.

Fallback plan ... HP Tuners. Not sure of their capability regarding axle ratio changes ... so I am currently researching their product functionalities. Hopefully I don’t have to go that direction ... but always good to have a fallback plan.

Side Note: Maybe one of you guys out there with the wiring diagrams can trace where the wheel speed sensor and the transfer case speed sensor terminate. I am wondering if the transfer case speed sensor routes to the transmission control module (TCM), then from the TCM to the ECM, and the wheel speed sensor goes direct to the ECM, and the Pulsar only intercepts the direct wheel speed sensor signal, but does not see the transfer case speed sensor that routes thru the TCM ? Of course this is just a hypothetical scenario, so appreciate any input from those with wiring diagrams and / or tribal knowledge on these parts of the truck.

 

[viper8315]

Man, sorry to hear about the ordeal. Hopefully they will fix it. I sure hope they gave you some money back since they didn't deliver the product they promised.