I work in a machine shop. (not the engine rebuilding type, its a job shop). We have lots of dial indicators and a X+ ton press. How hard would it be to do my own gears? I have 2.73s in my firebird that I want to swap for 4.10s and I have 3.55/3.54s in the Jeep that could use replacing when I get my lift and tires. I got the new JP magazine that did a D44 gear swap step by step. It didn't seem that hard, just time consuming.
thanks

Its not really that hard at all... like you said time consuming... because you may have to remove the carrier 4 or 5 (or even more) times before you get the backlash right... a dial indicator will help a lot..

I've put about 4 sets of gears in so far... my biggest suggestion would be to get the install kits with the gears, simply for the fact that the crush sleeves, bearings, etc. come with them. We had hell getting the crush sleeves from the local GM dealer... simply because they didn't know what they were looking for...

But all in all... its not ANYWHERE near as hard as people make it out to be..

having done it before aswell i would say just pay to have it done because it only costs about 150-200 and you stand a chance of toasting the gears as well as bearings and what not. it took forever to get the right backlash and tooth pattern. My time would have been better spent working on something else. just my two cents

I seem to remember a $500 labor charge to change gears here is so cal. maybe im wrong. I plan on doing them myself as well. how much is a dial indicator?

Cheepie dial indicator ~$10, get a mag base with it ~$15, I got a few I'll sell ya...;)

Originally posted by thenodnarb
I seem to remember a $500 labor charge to change gears here is so cal. maybe im wrong. I plan on doing them myself as well. how much is a dial indicator?

If you payed that then you got ripped off...average is about $150-$200 and you can find it for cheaper if you ahve friends or you look hard enough

I'm sorry but WTF would a dial indicator do for you in a gear swap? It's all about wear pattern on the teeth.

Originally posted by LOPPY
I'm sorry but WTF would a dial indicator do for you in a gear swap? It's all about wear pattern on the teeth.
to check backlash

Randy's Ring and Pinion (http://www.ring-pinion.com) has an excellent install manual you can download. The best one I've seen.

I'm sorry but WTF would a dial indicator do for you in a gear swap? It's all about wear pattern on the teeth.



If you have questions like this or think you can setup a ring and pinion without a dial indicator, you shouldn't be swappin gears yourself! Actually why the fawk do I care? Just get out of my way when your ring and pinion:nuke: and your blocking the trail! It is a very time consuming process to get everything just right, but very doable. I had to pull the carrier bearings like 4 times before I was happy with the pattern and bearing preload.Later:beer:

something that I havn't seen reccomended is to hone out a set of carrier bearings for the setup, then press the good ones for the final time.. saves time on pressing them on and off every time you screw up the BL.

If you want, I have a source local that charges $100 for rears and $150 for fronts. Just hit me on AIM if you want the details RatherBeJeeping

Originally posted by bignslow
something that I havn't seen reccomended is to hone out a set of carrier bearings for the setup, then press the good ones for the final time.. saves time on pressing them on and off every time you screw up the BL.
the JP guys did hone some bearings.

It may sound silly, but we have a little toaster oven, if you heat the bearings up a little, they fall right on, sounds goofy but it worked, but then again we did it in a garage with no heat and it was like 40 degrees outside!! :eek: definatly hone out a set of old ones if you can get them off with out fawkin em up

Originally posted by pdaddy
It may sound silly, but we have a little toaster oven, if you heat the bearings up a little, they fall right on, sounds goofy but it worked, but then again we did it in a garage with no heat and it was like 40 degrees outside!! :eek: definatly hone out a set of old ones if you can get them off with out fawkin em up

As long as no one uses a microwave to do this!!! :eek: lol :D

Originally posted by pdaddy
It may sound silly, but we have a little toaster oven, if you heat the bearings up a little, they fall right on, sounds goofy but it worked, but then again we did it in a garage with no heat and it was like 40 degrees outside!! :eek: definatly hone out a set of old ones if you can get them off with out fawkin em up

:D

We tried using a wheel cylinder hone, but the pads weren't coarse enough. You can probably get coarser stones, but we didn't bother - we just pressed them off & on again.

Bryan

Originally posted by Oxjockey


:D

We tried using a wheel cylinder hone, but the pads weren't coarse enough. You can probably get coarser stones, but we didn't bother - we just pressed them off & on again.

Bryan
I've never been able to get bearings on and off more than once without worrying about, or actually damaging them. You gotta use a dummy.

What are you using to pull your bearings? I would damage them using a puller and one of those two piece bearing cup things . Once I ditched the puller and just used a press, no damage and it was way easier and faster. If you have a spare set of bearings around, then you might as well hone them and keep them for setup bearings, it does make life easier. It isn't exact though. Even after you have put the final bearings on, double check everything. Sometimes it is off a bit.

YJ4LIFE, it isn't too big of a deal. Like everyone else has been saying, it is just a time consuming process. Don't be in a hurry, just take it nice and easy to make sure it is done right. The biggest problem that you are going to have is yourself. After pulling it apart 4 or 5 times you are going to be tempted to just say, "Looks good enough" Don't. Make sure everything is perfect and it will last. I had a regear take 2 days once and it still came out screwy, although that wasn't entirely my fault, the bearings were a bit fawked. Then again, I've set up gears before that took a total of MAYBE 45 minutes or so. Sometimes everything comes together perfectly, sometimes it doesn't. Take it easy and do a quality job.

Originally posted by Josh 89XJ
It isn't exact though. Even after you have put the final bearings on, double check everything. Sometimes it is off a bit.


Yah, that's one of the reasons we started to use the final bearings the whole time. And besides, then once it's set, it's set. We use an OTC puller and if that fails, we have the splitter with the puller attachment on it because the splitter and the carrier have a hard time fitting in the press with the standard jigs. We could probaby rig something so we could use the press, but we haven't yet...

Bryan