My 02 T/A is in the shop getting new gears.I wanted 3.23s and the guy is telling me that he has to change the carrier in order to install 3.23s.He is telling me to go with 3.42s and he can use the same carrier.

I've read that 3.42s w/A4 is not a good combination.

Any advise would be very helpfull as my car is torn apart and i don't know what the H*LL to tell this guy.

I thouight this was going to be straight forward from what i've read on the board here at LS1Tech.

Please help.I don't know what to tell him to do.

 

If you have 2.73's in there now, I believe you need to change the carrier in order to go with any 3.23 and up (3.42's included) gears.

 

I had 2.73's in my '98 Camaro. Got a set of 3.42's out of an M6 car & bought a 3 series carrier from SLP. Before I traded the car in I probably had 35-40000 miles on that setup with no problems.

Les

 

3.42s are fine. You can get 'thick' gears which can be used with your old 2-series carrier.

 

im happy with my 3.42 gears i did just as 02 som ws6 did and ive noticed no problems id just say if you plan on racing dont do the 2 series carrier way cause its weaker id do what i did and get slp 3.42 and a take off 3 series carrier and have em slapped in keep in mind youll have to replace a cheep berring in it cause its a take off part form the cars before they got their upgraded diff also if you plan to really to some sprited driving id skip the referb carrier and go for a better aftermarket one like the auburn or torsen (the company that makes the stock ones) has an upgraded one thats suppose to be real good but form most in your situation just getting a 3 series stock torsen unit and new gears will do good finally just to let you know when going form 2.73 to 3.42 you will loose some top end pull imo but for the qtr you will be better setup but not really any faster so if you enjoy hiway raceing id stick with 2.73 gears but if your doing the stoplight thin then 3.42 are good hell some even do 3.73 but i think thats too much 3.23 is nice but not that big of difference to spend the money your gonna spend to do it right!

 

3.42s are a very good gear for an A4 for street use.

BTW, I assume you are upgrading from 2.73s and have something to correct your speedo and tweak your shift points like an HPP3 or LS1 Edit.

 

good point ur gonna need something id go for a predator or ls1 edit i use hpp3 but i regret it cause its soon gonna be out grown cause hypertech wont work with modfied cars as predator will send you cust tunes when you start modding BUT if your gonna stay on the light side like only the crap i have done then ulll be fine with hpp3

 

I got richmonds gears for Jegs which are made for the series 2 carrier. Their is a guy named IRA who makes the speedo recalibrator for $100. I think slp makes one also for about $150. Both of these will lower your top speed from 160 to 130. I only hit 116 in the 1/4 so I didn't care.

 

Thanks for clearing things up for me everyone.I didn't do enough homework before i took the car in.The performance shop is taking blame for the whole carrier problem and has offered to dyno my car for free after i break in the new 3.42s.They have guaranteed me the gears and HPP3 will be here on tuesday...

Thanks again.