Run As Is Or Replace ?

[coyote kid]

just rebuilt my rear end after a catastrophic failure of my spider gears.. however the pinion gear has a small chip out of one of the teeth and you can hear it going down the road not to loud just a faint thunking sound (does not bind what so ever just noise can't feel it). when i had the rear end apart it looked just like a small chip like an 8th inch across on a tooth and i thought i could run it till i can get the tools and time to pull the pinion. i plan on doing fluid changes every few hundred miles until i fix it for good. my question is am i safe to run as is or should i just park it and wait?

[TheDirtyJeep401]

In my opinion, Id wait the last thnig you want to do is break down then have to be towed home. But at the same time you might be safe for a while. Id wait, when my water pump pulley chipped a peice off, it hit my radiator, I fixed the radiator and thought I could stil drive it. Big mistake. When I was sitting at a stop light, the whole pulley shattered and the belt flew off, I could have done more damage but thankfully, It didnt. And some how still made it home.

 

If you want to risk it or absolutley need it running then you just might have to.

Other than that, Id just park it.

[64 Cheyenne]

If it was me and I wanted to run it for a while, I would have taken some kind of stone and "took the edge off" of the broken tooth.

Might have helped, couldnt have hurt anything much worse.

[Minuit]

Fix things right. You don't want your axle coming apart on the highway causing you even more grief and work, do you?