I have a 94 Z and I had 4.10s installed about 2 years ago and a few months ago after a burnout I had what seemed like slack in my drivetrain. There is a very loud "clank" when changing direction from forward to reverse and when accelerating after slowing down. But once I hear the noise it pulls fine with no noise. and when I hear the noise I can feel the car "catch" and pull easier. and when I'm going slow through a turn with it in gear it is like the whole rear body of the car kicks sideways over and over the whole time through the turn. I had the car in the air on a lift and the backlash is still tight and the axles don't seem to have slack in them either. That is the best description I can give feel free to ask more questions for a better diagnosis. Any help is appreciated.

 

sounds like a broken spider gear

 

I agree. Bob

 

I launched on the same surface with slicks when I had my stock gears and didn't have any problems. With the 4.10s I had Kuhmos which don't hook at all.
Do you think that the shop that did the install did something wrong? The gears were S.L.P. and so was the install kit.

 

well to be honest, burnouts arent exactly good for the car, puts a lot of strain on everything, especially your wallet

 

How is me doing a burnout on a side street hard on a car compared to someone doing one on a prepared drag strip made for traction? Or launching with 10psi in a set of slicks. Compared to me having a set of cheap tires with 40psi?

 

Having a steeper gear like a 4.11 vs. say 3.42s, you'll have a smaller pinion & if i'm not mistaken, more teeth on the ring gear, thus making them narrower, this weakens them, even doing burnouts on the street is not a good thing either, you tend to wheel hop, even if you don't feel it, its there, this itself, makes the whole suspention/rearend vibrate/chatter, just look at it as when your teeth chatter when your cold, its the same thing, i have heard of people chipping there teeth from them chattering, this is what happens to the teeth on either the spider gears/ring gear/axle spline gears, theres alot of "TEETH" in the rearend. Now when you run a sticky tire, its just the abrupt force (shock) on the parts that push them past there breaking point (stress level), so even doing burnouts on the street with crappys tires is not always a gaurantee nothing will break, it just may take longer for it to happen, but when it does happen, its fast & you can't turn back.

 

Okay I understand the thinner gears and them being weaker. Since there is nothing to do about it now is it okay to drive it until I get it fixed?? Is S.L.P. a cheaper quality gear than others? What brand should I replace them with?

 

Always used Motive or Richmond...... never had a WHOLE lot problems..... read somewhere that Richmond actually makes the stronger gear of the most popular ones installed on 7.5 10 bolts.

 

I wouldn't drive it anywhere, you need to park it untill its fixed, because all you'll do is more damage, like was mentioned, get a good gear set, not a cheapo.

 

I have this same problem and am 17 so i dont know a whole lot about my rear-end as ive never done rear-end work. What do i need? just a new gear set? Whats stock gearing for my 1999 T/A? 3.73's? I honestly have no clue what a spider gear even is but id assume it comes with a gear set. hah anyone care to explain to the noob? thanks!

 

If you have a manual you have 3.42's and auto is 3.23's. Yes the spider gear would come with a gear set. I used S.L.P. gears and that seems to be a mistake as they are cheaper made than some others. I would like to replace mine with Richmond gears as the forum members speak pretty highly of them. I don't know how close you are to Columbia City, Indiana but Bob at Exotic Performance Plus is all over the forum and everyone says he does great work so I will try to get mine to him to get it fixed. He will replace your gears for 400+ fluids http://www.exoticperformanceplus.com...php?service=51 and there is a picture of the gears on that link as well. Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for the help! i feel like a tool but oh well. Im about 2 hours away from Columbia City but it may be worth it for a good job.

 

Two hours isn't that far away! Bob