HotRodNeil

I have a stock 2.73 rear. I have an A4 and want to change to a 3.73, but don't want noisy Richmond gears. What's stronger than the stock, and will be quiet? Thanks!!

Ric

Do some research on different manufacturers before buying. For starters, Dana/Spicer, US Gear, Moser, Yukon, Precision Gear, Motive Gear, AAM, just a few <a href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=11&k=name%20brands" onmouseover="window.status='name brands'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">name brands</a> out there. As far as stronger than stock, you're gonna have to get used to a little more noise, because aftermarket gears are made a little thicker, giving less tolerance in which to make a gear quiet. That's where YOU can make a difference.

Whenever you get your gears put in, go over them again. Check the wear pattern with some marking compound at three places on the ring, evenly spaced. You want the wear pattern as much centered on the ring teeth as possible. Too far forward/backward from center of the teeth means incorrect pinion depth. Closer to the sides of the teeth means too much backlash. BE CAREFUL!!! You want a little backlash, about .08" is a decent average figure. Any less, and you risk the pinion teeth "hammering" inbetween ring teeth when everything reaches operating temperature. This can cause pinion breakage, leading to ring damage, differential breakage, and basic rearend carnage in general. There are shops that will just slap a gearset in and not even give it a second thought, so save yourself an $X00 headache and check the shop's work. Your patience will pay off greatly.

Bow94z

iTrader: (3)

Just get Motives
Make sure you buy 2 series gears for the 2 series carrier.
Keeping them quiet is done finding a experienced installer

HotRodNeil

How are Motive gears? I'm also getting all the bearings replaced, so I'll get a kit. Thanks.

00T\A

Myself personally i like the GM oem gears Strong & quiet.
A good installer also helps alot.

HotRodNeil

Any gears I should avoid? That would help to shorten the list.

chicane

USGear is a main OE supplier to the "Big Three" and this includes your stock 10bolt, but I will say they dont have the 'finish' that the aftermarket gearsets do. On another note, when Precision Gear came to market, they did it with the equipment they purchased from USGear when they re-tooled years back to supply the OE demands.

Anyway.... the best efforts I have seen have been with using either USGear or Precision, but it would be in your best interest to have the gearset deburred and set up by some one that is quite intimate with the peticular chassis that you are running. Meaning, the guys that hot rod these things have a little better insight in making them live over your every day differential shop that might mainly deals with trucks. Not that there is much of a difference in how you set them up, its weather or not the tech has delt with the typical f-body user and what its going to be put thru.....

I hope that you can trust me with this, I have probably done more than a thousand f-body 10 bolts and the USGear/Precision sets when deburred and set up correctly will be the most quiet and live the longest.

HotRodNeil

Are they stronger than the stock gears? BTW, thanks for the help!

NXSLT1

I just installed a set of Richmond 4.11s in mine last week and they are surprisingly quiet, especially for that low of a gear. You can just barely hear them whine on the interstate.

Someone up above posted that you need .08 backlash and I'd like to correct that, most have a minimum backlash of .008. If you had a backlash of .08 that would be a terrible thing. lol I'm certain this was just a typo though.

chicane

Well..... just looking at the finished product differences between the OE and the aftermarket sets, the aftermarket sets have it hands down. This is mainly due to the fact that aftermarket sets are finished machined...... which, basically all that means is, that every surface is cleaned up...... which, means that they are relieved of all 'stress risers', at the time of manufacturing. This does not mean that the aftermarket sets dont have to be deburred..... they all (of any manufacture) have to be durburred to gain the chance of increased life expectancy.

So are they stronger ?? In my opinion, yes. By how much ?? I couldnt even begin to tell you. There is a lot going on when hypoid gears are loaded and the worst thing to any gearset is "impact loading"...... which is what opens up a 'stress riser' and creates a tare (basically). The next thing is the crack propagates enough to brake the tooth clean off. Hummmmm...... sounds a lot like drag racing and hard shifting ='s high impact loading.

I wish I had a good digi camera so that I could post and describe more in detail what I am referencing to. Heck its so easy...... you could do it yourself..... and the reason most people dont is that it takes a little time and you know what that means..... time is money.

A final note to add to NXSLT1, is that I have pretty much followed a basic rule from the old diff guys. The amount of ring gear lash should be 0.001" of lash for every inch of ring gear diameter. Now, is that set in stone ?? Not really..... I have shipped diff's with 0.005-0.006" in some 8.5" (and other sizes).

I guess you could just call it a mear guide line...... but the truth is in the paint wipeoff.........

DynoDR

iTrader: (1)

In case you go with a GM gear set you may need to get tighter than most aftermarket sets. Maybe not but do not freak out if you end up on the low side of .006-.008. On the 2-cut gear, you will see .004-.006 is where some like it. And you cannot go by the same old pattern we have all been used to looking at all the time.

MiaSSmaro98

iTrader: (9)

go with gm gears or yukon gears find a good installer and ur good to go.also guys wats the deal with lossing hp when swapping gears?

Ric

Oops.

I caught that as I was scrolling down the page, too.

To add to your confusion, the gears in my Jeep are Genuine Gear pieces. They claim a lifetime warranty on them, along with the axleshafts in the rearend. Will they honor either??? I hope I never find out. But, they know what 4wd nuts do with their rigs, so there's no tellin.

Oh, and it's been stated on 4wd forums here and there that Genuine Gear sets are actually made by Dana/Spicer.

Carter Hays

7.625 rear axle S-10, S-15, Colorado, Canyon, Camaro is supplied by another company. "New style" dealer gears require .003 to .006 backlash
for a good pattern.