Chicago-based US Gear, in operation now for more than half a century, is one of the few remaining domestic manufacturers of automotive gears, producing advanced aftermarket gears for the motorsports, military, and commercial industries. But beyond their differential and transmission gears and components, the aftermarket division of AxleTech International also produces gear oils and other products meant to work in tandem with their core lineup of high performance gears, and they’ve brought all of it to this year’s SEMA Show

US Gears’ Bob Angliss showed us around some of their newest and hottest products, highlighted in particular by their new Lightning Series gears, which are completed in a REM finish (REM is the brand name of a surface engineering firm to’s developed the finish), or an isotropic super finish (ISF).

“What this means is that your part is sitting in a great big, vibratory bowl of ceramic media in different shapes and sizes, paired with mild chemical accelerants to speed up the process. So, what’s happening, in a non-directional way — meaning you’re not rubbing everything back and forth in one direction — is it’s taking all of the imperfections out of the surface. So anything from turning to cutting, anything from the manufacturing process, it’s removing,” Angliss explains.

The advantages of this process, according to Angliss, are many, including that you no longer have to perform a break-in on the gear; it reduces friction and thereby eliminates heat; it increases durability, because you’ve taken the stress risers and impurities out of the finish; and it reduces the lubrication requirements and keeps the gear lube longer-lasting.

US Gear has also launched its very own 75W 140 gear oil at SEMA.

As Angliss goes on to share, the ISF process can be applied to any of their gears, be it those for the drag racing, street, or commercial markets. The technology is being used extensively in US Gears’ offerings for drag racing and off-road racing applications, where the advantages are even more beneficial. And, as Angliss points, out, the wear pattern on ISF-finished gears are the same as those without.