Deep freeze treatment

Cryogenic treatment for gears and shafts

Taking a hardened steel component down to cryogenic temperatures, slowly and under control, changes what is going on inside the metal. Done properly it improves wear resistance and durability - which matters most on the parts that live the hardest life.

What the process does

Hardened steel is not as uniform inside as it looks. After heat treatment a proportion of the structure is left in a softer, less stable form than intended, and there are internal stresses locked in from the manufacturing. Both are perfectly normal and both cost you durability.

A cryogenic cycle takes the part far below freezing over a long, controlled ramp, holds it, and brings it back equally slowly. That conversion continues, the structure ends up more uniform, and internal stresses are relieved. The result is a component with better wear resistance and better fatigue life than it left the factory with.

What we treat

• Gears and gear sets
• Mainshafts, layshafts and input shafts
• Bearings and races
• Selector forks and other hard-wearing internals
• Other automotive components that would benefit from the same treatment

Where it earns its money

On a family car doing thirty thousand kilometres a year it is not something we would push. The parts are nowhere near their limits and the standard components will outlast the vehicle.

Where it does earn its keep is anywhere loads are high, cycles are repeated and a failure is expensive or dangerous:

• Racing and competition gearboxes, especially anything launched hard
• Heavily boosted road cars putting far more torque through standard internals
• Components that keep failing in service for no obvious reason
• Parts that are difficult, slow or expensive to replace

It pairs naturally with a performance or racing gearbox build, where the parts are out and apart anyway and the treatment adds almost nothing to the timeline.

Honest about the limits

Cryogenic treatment improves a component. It does not transform a bad design into a good one, it cannot rescue a part that is already cracked or worn, and it is not a substitute for choosing the right gear set in the first place. Anyone who tells you it is worth doing to every part in the car is selling, not advising.

Sending parts to us

You do not need to be having other work done here. Workshops, engine builders and individual racers send components in for treatment on their own. Ring 0800 432 726 with what you have and what it is going into, and we will tell you whether it is worth treating and what it will cost.