Split gearing, another method, consists of two gear halves positioned side-by-side. One half is fixed to a shaft while springs cause the spouse to rotate slightly. This escalates the effective tooth thickness to ensure that it completely fills the tooth space of the mating equipment, thereby eliminating backlash. In another version, an assembler bolts the rotated fifty percent to the fixed half after assembly. Split gearing is normally used in light-load, low-speed applications.

The simplest & most common way to reduce backlash in a pair of gears is to shorten the length between their centers. This moves the gears right into a tighter mesh with low or even zero clearance between tooth. It eliminates the effect of variations in middle distance, tooth measurements, and bearing eccentricities. To shorten the guts distance, either adjust the gears to a set distance and lock them set up (with bolts) or spring-load one against the other so they stay tightly meshed.
Fixed assemblies are typically used in heavyload applications where reducers must invert their direction of rotation (bi-directional). Though “set,” they may still need readjusting during support to pay for tooth use. Bevel, spur, helical, and worm gears lend themselves to fixed applications. Spring-loaded assemblies, on the other hand, maintain a continuous zero backlash and are generally used for low-torque applications.

Common design methods include short center distance, spring-loaded split gears, plastic material fillers, tapered gears, preloaded gear trains, and dual path gear trains.

Precision reducers typically limit backlash to about 2 deg and so are used in applications such as for example instrumentation. Higher precision products that obtain near-zero backlash are used in applications such as for example robotic systems and machine device zero backlash gearbox spindles.
Gear designs could be modified in many methods to cut backlash. Some methods modify the gears to a set tooth clearance during initial assembly. With this process, backlash eventually increases because of wear, which needs readjustment. Other designs use springs to hold meshing gears at a constant backlash level throughout their support existence. They’re generally limited to light load applications, though.