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Time to get my 2002 TransAm rear diff repaired. I had a set of Yukon 3.23 gears installed and they are too noisy. I have a set of GM 3.23's part number 26019044 gears. The car has posi, ABS and TC. Using the info in the forum sticky the ring gear height is different from the pic. The pic shows height as 1.183 " and mine measures 0.883. Is this due to the gear ratio difference, or am I measuring wrong ( pic is a 4.10 and mine is a 3.23)? Figured I check before I send it off to the shop ( different shop than the one that installed the Yukons) for this work.
You're referring to my pic It was for showing the difference between 2 & 3 series gears in relation to the pic showing 2 & 3 series carriers. That pic was only for 4.10s difference of 2 & 3 series. and would not apply to other ratios as other ratio pinion gears vary in the gear diameter and therefore affect the thickness of the ring gear necessary for on the carriers flange. I hope that explains that aspect. Yes your 3.23 would have a different dimension.
GM never made a 3.23 gear for a 2 series carrier,that I know of, if that's your concern.
The more important pic for you would be this one and the reference in it as it doesn't deal with ratio only the approximate necessary dimension between pinion and carrier flange surface.
Here's another good pic for reference.
Disregarding the back row for 2 series, the front row and middle row are for 3 series. As the ratio get numerically higher (3.23-3.42-3.73-4.10) the pinion gear diameter decreases thereby requiring a thicker ring gear to maintain the critical pinion gear centerline to ring gear flange mounting surface dimension.
Why were the Yukon 3.23s put in as in relation to what happened to the original gears ?
Are the GM 3.23s' used ?
No, the original 2.73's were fine. I just thought that a mild upgrade and a new posi unit would improve overall street driving. The car is just a cruiser. It all started with too much piston slap ( at least for me) so I installed a new 6.0 and things progressed from there.
Your question made me do some digging. We have 2 Firebirds in the family My 2002 TransAm ragtop and my son has a 1999 Firehawk. Got my info incorrect and having had an oil spill, my documentation is screwed up. I found the parts box from the gear change on my TransAm. It had the install instructions for the gear swap. My car has an Auburn Gear posi ( I believe that I used p/n 542046) and Motive Gears, again guessing here, p/n G875323. T/C and ABS work fine so it has to be a series 3 set up. Sorry for the confusion. The original posi unit was left with the installer. Dont know why, but I still have the 2.73's
OK, numbers make sense. The G875323 is the Motive p/n for a 3.23 3 series gearset. The 542046 is p/n for an Auburn 'heavy duty' 3 series carrier.
Back to your original post, 'they are too noisy'. Noises come from many components, pinion bearings, carrier bearings, axle bearings.
Auburns require regular ( not synthetic) gear lube, and have to add the GM friction modifier.
If axle bearings / sxles are a problem, the use of 'axle bearing saver' assemblies are not recommended as they cause many severe assembly / disassembly problems.
Everything matches up to what was done. No used parts were installed, everything new. I had my doubts about the installer, a great guy, but not much experience with rear differentials ( found that out the hard way). Anyway, I am taking it to a local shop, the guy was a tech for Chevy for many years and decided to go out on his own. Previous work he has done for me was perfect. I am reasonably sure that axle saver bearings were installed and you are correct, the C clips are hard to remove. Anyway as soon as this quarantine is lifted, the car will be heading to the shop. Again, all new parts. Thanks for the guidance.
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