Custom Gear Manufacturing Services & Replacement Gear Engineering
When Standard Parts Aren’t An Option
Riverside Spline & Gear capabilities are now supported by Sumitomo Drive Technologies, with continued support for custom gears, splines, replacement components, and legacy equipment applications.
- Replace obsolete or discontinued components
- Build custom gears & splines to your specs
- Reverse engineer worn or damaged parts
- Produce components from drawings, samples, or existing parts
- Manufacture low-volume custom orders
- Match replacement components to existing equipment
For time-sensitive and emergency failures, priority is placed on review and production to help reduce downtime.
Manufacturing Capabilities & Support
Obsolete & Legacy Gear Replacement
Industrial equipment does not always need to be fully replaced when gears, splines, shafts, hubs, rollers, or machined components become worn, damaged, or unsupported. Replacement manufacturing support is available for obsolete and hard-to-source components used across industrial machinery, processing equipment, automation systems, lifting equipment, conveyors, rotating assemblies, and legacy production systems where OEM parts are no longer available.
Existing components can be evaluated and recreated from drawings, CAD files, samples, or reverse engineered parts to help restore operation and extend equipment life without requiring full system replacement. Support is available for low-volume replacement production, specialty machining, and applications requiring compatibility with existing assemblies, mounting interfaces, and operating conditions.
Manufacturing and engineering teams review geometry, fit, material requirements, tolerances, tooth profiles, interface dimensions, and surface conditions to help ensure replacement components match existing equipment requirements and application demands.
Support Includes:
- Replacement gears for obsolete equipment
- Legacy spline and shaft replacement
- Reverse engineering from existing components
- Gear and spline recreation from samples
- Low-volume replacement manufacturing
- Geometry and fit verification
- Material and heat treatment support
- Replacement components matched to existing equipment
- Support for discontinued or hard-to-source parts
Common Applications:
- Legacy manufacturing equipment
- Aging processing systems
- Industrial automation equipment
- Conveyors and material handling systems
- Lifting and positioning equipment
- Rotating and motion-control assemblies
- Older production and process lines
- Equipment where full system replacement is not practical
Riverside's 4-Step Process for Gear Reconstruction and Replacement
1. Capture Geometry
2. Analyze Performance
3. Material Optimization
4. Dimensional Verification
In-House Manufacturing Capabilities
Turning
- Eight CNC Mazak turning centers supporting a wide range of diameters and lengths
- Controlled blank geometry for downstream gear cutting and finishing
- Large-capacity vertical turning centers for repeatable low-volume and production work
Milling
- CNC milling for keyways, bolt patterns, and mounting features
- Supports secondary machining required for gear integration
- Maintains dimensional accuracy for assembly and alignment
Gear Cutting
- Gear shaping for internal and external gears
- Gear hobbing for spur and helical gears across multiple pitch ranges
- Large-format manual hobbers including Phauter and G&E machines
Shaping
- Fellows gear shapers with 36-inch machines and extended stroke capacity
- Supports internal and external gear profiles
- CNC Fellows FS400-125 Hydrostroke shapers for higher-volume production
Precision Grinding
OD, ID, cylindrical, and surface grinding performed in-house
Precision grinding capability has been maintained internally since the late 1960s
Used to control blank geometry and surface quality prior to final gear grinding
Gear Grinding
Dedicated Gear Grinding Center
HÖFLER gear grinders equipped with on-board checking
Capable of grinding large-diameter gears
Operates extended hours to support throughput and emergency work
Supports AGMA Q15, DIN 2, and AGMA A2 quality requirements
EDM
- EDM machining for splines, keyways, and internal features
- Supports tight-tolerance geometries and complex profiles
- Used where conventional machining or broaching is not suitable
Material Inventory and Availability
Materials commonly used include:
- High-Strength US Alloys: Our gear solutions included extensive stock of domestically sourced 4140, 4340, and 8620 to ensure superior heat-treat response and structural integrity.
- Corrosion Resistance: Stainless steel options specifically for wash-down, food-grade, or harsh chemical environments.
- Wear-Resistant Grades: Specialized carburizing steels designed for maximum surface hardness and extended service life in high-load applications.
- 100% US-Sourced & Traceable: Supporting domestic supply chains with full material certification and traceability—ideal for BABA compliance and critical infrastructure projects.
- Ready-to-Ship Bar Stock: A wide range of diameters kept on-site to support both standard production and emergency "line-down" replacements.
Gear Assembly Capabilities Include:
Gear assembly is performed with a focus on fit, alignment, and functional performance across mating components. This includes assembly of gears on shafts and shaft pinions to improve accuracy and reduce downstream handling.
Professional Shrink-Fitting: We use controlled heat and cooling processes to ensure a permanent, secure fit. This removes the risk of damaging critical components during assembly in your facility
Assembly is completed prior to final tooth grinding to ensure proper alignment of the pitch diameter to the shaft axis. This helps reduce runout, gear wobble, and orientation issues that can impact performance in service.
For replacement applications, assemblies are matched to existing equipment to maintain alignment and compatibility without requiring modification during installation. This includes support for spline manufacturing and repair to ensure proper interface alignment.
Each assembly is checked prior to shipment to confirm proper fit, alignment, and readiness for installation.
Emergency Gear Replacement
Rapid Production for Replacement Gears
When your equipment goes down, our response team takes over. We specialize in emergency gear replacement with rapid-turnaround manufacturing for critical failures where OEM parts are weeks away or no longer exist.
- Work From Anything: We can recreate high-precision gears from worn samples, broken fragments, or even hand-sketches.
- Immediate Production: or emergency failures, we streamline our internal workflow to prioritize your project. Our team focuses on moving your part through production as efficiently as possible to minimize your downtime.
- Zero-Rework: We focus on delivering a high-performance replacement that can be installed the moment it arrives—getting your drive system back in service without delay.
