Net forged spiral bevel gear

A process for providing a spiral bevel gear and a spiral bevel pinion gear, the process comprising:

• providing a blank, the blank having a blank temperature;
• heating the blank such that the blank temperature exceeds a predetermined temperature threshold;
• forging the heated blank while the blank temperature exceeds the predetermined temperature threshold to produce a forging, the forging having a first side and a second side, the first side comprising a plurality of near net-shaped spiral bevel gear teeth, the forging being formed of metal;
• machining the second side of the forging to a predetermined distance from a portion of the near net-shaped spiral bevel gear teeth to form a machined forging;
• without machining the near net-shaped spiral bevel gear teeth, forming a coined gear by cold working the machined forging in a coining die to induce plastic flow in the near net-shaped spiral bevel gear teeth and form net-shaped spiral bevel gear teeth that conform to a desired tooth profile with a desired degree of accuracy, wherein each of the net-shaped spiral bevel gear teeth has a pair of flanks, and wherein the desired tooth profile includes a contour of the flanks of the net-shaped spiral bevel gear teeth, wherein the coining die contacts each of the net-shaped spiral bevel gear teeth over an entirety of the desired tooth profile of each of the net-shaped spiral bevel gear teeth;
• heat-treating the coined gear to form a heat-treated gear;
• providing a spiral bevel pinion gear;
• and
• finishing the heat-treated gear without milling, grinding or electro-discharge machining the net-shaped spiral bevel gear teeth to produce a finished spiral bevel gear;
• wherein the teeth of the finished spiral bevel gear have a quality level in which the finished gear and the spiral bevel pinion gear, when meshed together, perform at or below a 50 micro-radian level of first harmonic transmission error when positioned in a predetermined spatial relationship.