Pinions manufactured integral with their drive shafts are used by several clarifier drive manufacturers. From an engineering perspective, there is nothing wrong with this approach as it increases the accuracy of locating the pinion pitch circle concentric with its axis of rotation. However, this difference of less than 0.002” is insignificant. DBS does not normally provide pinions that are integral with their drive shaft for very practical reasons – ease of maintenance and lower cost for our customers. If a pinion wears out or is damaged, our competitor’s pinion drive gearbox needs to be fully disassembled to remove the pinion and drive shaft. A pinion on a DBS drive can be slipped off its drive shaft by simply removing a snap ring. Obviously, there is a significant cost difference between just a pinion, and an integral pinion and drive shaft.