Lss1350

Do you guys take it to a shop or DIY? Are there any special tools needed? Im looking into a 3.73 kit with the t/a girdle and what not.

-j

WS6WRX

iTrader: (1)

You can do it yourself in about 8-9 hours. You will need a dial indicator w/ magnetic base and a caliper/micrometer. Both of these are available for pretty cheap from somewhere like Harbor Frieght tools. Here are the instructions I used to do mine last weekend. It's really not very difficult at all.

http://www.fullsizechevy.com/fscu/axletech/

http://nick_novotny.tripod.com/install.html

ace68

iTrader: (15)

a shop press to install the pinion bearing and or shimms.

mzoomora

iTrader: (36)

You will also need a ft/lb and in/lb torque wrench, a pretty strong impact if you use a crush sleeve, and the previously mentioned stuff. Everything else is pretty basic hand tools.

leres

That sounds exactly like what I did a couple of months back. It was my first rear but I had an experienced buddy come by to double check a few things. It took me parts of 3 weekends because once I got into it I decided to order a solid spacer kit (the old inner pinion bearing had spun) and later a TA girdle and had to wait for parts both times. But I got a nice pattern and it's totally quiet (ok, maybe there's just a hint of coast whine...)

It's not really an install guide but I have lots of details here: As far as install guides go, the fullsizedchevy.com one referenced above is good.

white_96_ss

same here but I just had some trouble setting the back lash or whatever the hell they call it..somewhat of a PITA but not too bad just gotta be paitent

transsam

iTrader: (5)

The reason I too am up in the air on this one is WHINE. I had a 96 Camaro that whinned like crazy after the install of 3.73s. When you are doing it yourself is there a way to prevent whine, or to get it right is it something best left to the pros?

leres

When my car was new, my original 3.43s howled. At the time I didn't know any better; my 1965 Mustang has 270K miles and its tiny little rear end has howled as long as I can remember. After a few thousand miles, my buddy helped me check the backlash and we found it was excessive (it was something like 0.013"). We suspect that when SLP did the Auburn upgrades, they just disassembled and reassembled leaving out niceties like checking the blacklash or pattern. We adjusted it (back down to 0.007") and it got quieter but the howl never we away since the gears had been broken in wrong.

If you have correct pinion depth and backlash you should have a good pattern and also quiet operation. It's time consuming and tedious but as they say, not rocket science.

Proper break-in is also important. I put a temperature sensor in the overflow and during my first few 15 minute sessions, it got up above 200° F. But after break-in, it's rare to see anything above 180° F.

SSAnderson

I am thinking of checking the backlask in my 00 SS also. I have a noise that sounds like the backlash is not set properly. Anyone had any luck resetting the backlash or pinion depth to get the torsen rear ends to quiet down. I replaced the pinion bearings and that got rid of the whine a high speeds but I still have the infamous clunk clunk clunk at slow speeds. GM says its normal and that all torsen rear ends do it. Any suggestions?