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Tom
Reider is a racer at heart. He began racing early on with his father at
the 1955 U.S. Nationals and raced until 1986 when he hung up his helmet
and dedicated all his time to Precision Gear. Like many other racers,
Reider created Precision Gear out of necessity. His first racecar was
an H/Gas Corvair that he set the NHRA national record with in 1966 while
getting his mechanical engineering degree from Drexel University in Philadelphia.
After graduating and subsequently spending 4 years as an officer with
the US Navy, Tom then went on to work for Ford Motor Co. as a design engineer.
By 1975 Tom and Mel Wallace, another mechanical engineer from Ford, got
the bug to go racing and chose Ford Pintos to run in NHRA Stock Eliminator.
Both of their cars were very competitive but not as dominant as they thought
they should be. The biggest problem the Michigan based team faced was
getting enough gear. A 4.62 ratio was the steepest 8” gear available
and the Pinto really needed to use a 5.43 ratio. As with most racers,
Tom was dedicated to his sport and committed enough to contract with Eaton
Corporation to build 50 sets of the needed 5.43 gear sets. The entrepreneurial
spirit in him then came to the forefront and Tom had little difficulty
in selling the 48 remaining sets to fellow racers.
Tom’s first foray in the gear business was a racing decision that helped the Pintos to dominate Stock Eliminator in 1976 by winning three of the six National events held that year, including the US Nationals. This endeavor steered Reider down the path of becoming his own boss by involving him in the gear manufacturing business. Accordingly, he sought out other gearing needs of racers in all types of motorsports and made ring and pinion sets available to these individuals. As the business grew, Tom had to make the tough decision to leave his design management post at Ford, where he was responsible for total engine systems design and release, and in 1986 entered into business for himself.
Tom’s new business, Precision Gear, started in the drag racing business but was soon branching out into VW transaxles, Corvair transaxles and other off road applications. Eventually Precision Gear started servicing NASCAR race teams and continued to do that for 6 years before Ford Racing got back to building gears for NASCAR. Precision Gear currently manufactures over fifty specialty ratios for the Ford 9” for NASCAR applications as well as building complete third member assemblies for many of the NASCAR teams. They even break in every unit for three hours on an in-house dynamometer before shipping. These units are now ready to install and run at 200 MPH right out of the box. In addition to gears, Precision is also a large manufacturer of Limited Slip Differentials for on and off-road applications.
Precision Gear products are manufactured using the latest equipment and technology in a plant that has received Ford’s Q-1 quality award and achieved the ISO9000 manufacturing standard. Since no company can afford to sit on their laurels if they want to maintain their position at the front of the pack, they have to be innovative and listen to their customers. Reider did exactly that, and over the last year, Tom and his team at Precision Gear made a major investment and developed their new Ultralite Series of lightweight gears, lockers and spools. At present the Ultralite component line is only available for Ford 9” and 9.5” gearsets with others due to come online. Reider feels the major advantage of the Ultralite gear is that the customer gets the bonus of less rotating mass and reduced weight without losing any gear strength. The gears need to be used in conjunction with one of Precision’s lightweight spools that has a unique offset to mount the Ultralite gear. An Ultralite 9.5” gear and spool represents a saving of more than six pounds over a conventional gear / spool setup. The manufacturing process allows the gears to be three times lighter than other lightened gears but with more inherent strength. Innovation and Evolution are the name of the game at Precision Gear!
Tom’s first foray in the gear business was a racing decision that helped the Pintos to dominate Stock Eliminator in 1976 by winning three of the six National events held that year, including the US Nationals. This endeavor steered Reider down the path of becoming his own boss by involving him in the gear manufacturing business. Accordingly, he sought out other gearing needs of racers in all types of motorsports and made ring and pinion sets available to these individuals. As the business grew, Tom had to make the tough decision to leave his design management post at Ford, where he was responsible for total engine systems design and release, and in 1986 entered into business for himself.
Tom’s new business, Precision Gear, started in the drag racing business but was soon branching out into VW transaxles, Corvair transaxles and other off road applications. Eventually Precision Gear started servicing NASCAR race teams and continued to do that for 6 years before Ford Racing got back to building gears for NASCAR. Precision Gear currently manufactures over fifty specialty ratios for the Ford 9” for NASCAR applications as well as building complete third member assemblies for many of the NASCAR teams. They even break in every unit for three hours on an in-house dynamometer before shipping. These units are now ready to install and run at 200 MPH right out of the box. In addition to gears, Precision is also a large manufacturer of Limited Slip Differentials for on and off-road applications.
Precision Gear products are manufactured using the latest equipment and technology in a plant that has received Ford’s Q-1 quality award and achieved the ISO9000 manufacturing standard. Since no company can afford to sit on their laurels if they want to maintain their position at the front of the pack, they have to be innovative and listen to their customers. Reider did exactly that, and over the last year, Tom and his team at Precision Gear made a major investment and developed their new Ultralite Series of lightweight gears, lockers and spools. At present the Ultralite component line is only available for Ford 9” and 9.5” gearsets with others due to come online. Reider feels the major advantage of the Ultralite gear is that the customer gets the bonus of less rotating mass and reduced weight without losing any gear strength. The gears need to be used in conjunction with one of Precision’s lightweight spools that has a unique offset to mount the Ultralite gear. An Ultralite 9.5” gear and spool represents a saving of more than six pounds over a conventional gear / spool setup. The manufacturing process allows the gears to be three times lighter than other lightened gears but with more inherent strength. Innovation and Evolution are the name of the game at Precision Gear!