Spent some time at the trail and I noticed something, in 4-lo I have absolutely no problems with the way my motor performs. In 4-hi, sometimes I couldn't get my tires to spin.

So, everyone on this forum was right(yet again), it's not my motor I hate so much but my gearing. doing some research it seems with factory 31s and 3.55s, that was on the low side as well, factory.

In 4-lo I can barely keep control of the truck, tap the gas slightly and BAM, power and torque!

So, it's been asked hundreds of times but you know.. uh, 4.56s or bigger? Keeping my 8.8 and 44TTB in the front, gonna try to drop an old LS unit for D44s in the front if the spline counts match up (from a Jeep, picked it up for like $20).

I have 33'' tires right now, tall 33s at 32'' actual and I *might* go to 35s. I tow a boat, offroad and it's my daily driver, can't afford to drop 2-3mpg but I need more powerrr!

Also, can I do this myself? I'm the kinda guy who starts something new and always seems to finish alright, even if it's a big job..
but everyone warns gears should be done by professionals. I'm not rich, even when I have money it's tough to throw it all on my Bronco. I might need a T-Case and motor soon, possibly even a tranny, so thousands on a regear is a bit irresponsible, $500 to do it myself sounds a lot better.

 

4.11:1 is acceptable for 33's but if you make the move to 35's 4.56:1 is the better choice. And with an OD transmission, it will remain a bit more highway-friendly even with gears that tall. Either way the D44 will need a new carrier as well as gears. (The carrier changes once you get above 3.73:1 ratio).

As to the prospect of doing it yourself, keep in mind that setting gears is an art of sorts and if you don't get it right the first time, you don't get a second chance. $500 in gears becomes $50 in scrap steel in about 15 miles. So ask yourself if you want to spend $500 on gears now and then $1000 to have someone do it again or just spend $1000 and avoid the down-time and additional cost.

If you have experience setting up gears, then disregard the paragraph above. If not... read it again. (Consider asking your professional of choice if you can observe while they do the work... then next time, you can try it on your own).

 

you will need special tools to perform the gear swap yourself. those tools alone may be expensive i dont know. also need to consider the fact that if you do mess up the gears are will be toast and you will have to start all over again.

with that said i would perhaps start on the front D44 since the center section can be pulled and placed on a bench. also the front doesnt need to be as perfect since its rarely used compared to the rear which sees daily use and strains from towing etc...

now what you must understand is your heading down the rabbit hole and mpg will be lost no 2 ways about it. I would not try to use that jeep D44 LS, it probably wont work. not to mention the D44 has a carrier break at 4.10 ratio.

now the next question is which rig is getting this work done? you have 3 fords so i am not sure who is getting what haha.


I am very happy with my setup, I towed a travel trailer in the summer a bunch to go camping making the 4.88's perfect along with the fact i added a front winch/bummper, rock sliders which added about 450#s. Offroad its great also but again i have 35's. on the hwy i can comfortably drive 70-75 running about 2400rpms with the 5.8/e4od. if i need to pass i just roll into the throttle and it goes. no downshifting or anything which is important. you want the motor to be in its power band so the tranny isnt hunting between drive and Over drive.

lots to consider, do your home work obviously. Randys Ring and pinion has a bunch of info on doing gears swap yourself also.

 

This is for my 1990 Bronco, sorry about that.

I absolutely hate driving this truck on the interstate.. well, I hate driving it anywhere. It just has no power, I have to fight to keep it in its power band. I use to blame the motor ('stupid 351w with midend torque, stupid car motor in a truck, rarw, i want a 400') but man, if I can just fix it all with gearing? I couldn't believe all the torque that came with shifting it into 4-lo on the trail.

Sad news on the housing(edit: carrier) for the front.. BroncoGraveyard sells complete third members for the front for about $700, I'm just gonna want to do that, aren't I? They even come with LS units or lockers already in, don't really want a locker on a D44 though, it's just asking for trouble, LS should help though. Was hoping it was just $200 for the gears, looks like the front is going to cost more than the rear. at Least I'll save on labor

So I'm looking at, ... at least $700 for the front, but that's saving on labor, I think I can do that myself, swapping in a third member is easy. I did it for my 9'' in my F150, set backlash, it was fine after I messed with it.
$200 for gears in the back, plus $100-200 for a rebuild kit. Got a guy calling me back on labor cost for the gear swap, called him before I knew about frontend though.

I'm looking at closer to $1500 to $2000. How do guys get gear swaps for less than that? I WAS going to have some body work done, but the idea of all that POWER excites me soo much, the body work can wait.

 

Complete D44 IFS Center Section, 4.88 Ratio Trac-Lok

this is what I would do, well, with 4.56s, Im gonna have to call but it should be the same price. $850, not $700.. plus a $50 core charge and who knows how much shipping.

there's really not a cheaper way to do this, is there? just find a complete d44 reverse rotation third member and swap it in? definitely gonna need to do some more research on this.

edit: yeah, see.. apparently trac-lok is a full locker. I definitely need to do some more research on this, which is why I'm here asking questions! heh

 

i have an aussie locker up front and love it offroad. I keep the rear open for towing purposes but that will soon change also. the lunchbox locker is nice because U can install it yourself easily. so if you want to go that route be sure to get the front chunk from JBG with an open carrier. when you go to put the front end back together take this time to upgrade to the D50 stub shaft. also get a 1.5" spring to place into the stub shaft so you dont have to mess with the C clip on that side anymore. it will be a saving grace is that side ever lets go on the trail an you need to pull the axle. Otherwise you would need to pull the center section to remove the C clip which is a PITA on the trail.

 

the trac lok is a clutch style LS which for the front can be good. i know it says always locked but trust me its not a locker, it will slip if its bound up enough or when turning like it should.

I remember paying a total of 1100 or 1200 for my gears and labor. do your home work on the shop more than anything. U might ask over at fsb about anyone willing to help with gear install. might be suprised.

 

FSB makes me mad.. for years they wouldn't let me register because of gmail, now they're telling me I have to make a certain number of posts before I can post a new thread.

I'm gonna call this guy back and see if he has a quote for me.. he sounded like a nice guy, I have no trouble giving money to servicemen who aren't trying to rip me off.

and that's nice to know on the trac-lok. I can't have a full locker in the front, I just know I'd break a ujoint or shaft the first time I went out binding it on a rock or something. My front end binds a lot, plus I have some really grippy tires on hard services like rocks (cooper stts, terrible for mud, amazing for everything else). I couldn't believe that I was able to completely bind my front and rearend, I was flooring it without ANY movement until I shifted in 4-lo. Full locker would be instant breakage with lower gearing.

I'll look into that D50 stub shaft. I think I'm goign to do the front end myself and let a shop do the rearend. It will also let me take my time with it, I can drive with different gearing in the front as long as I don't use the 4wd.

is trac-lock what's stock in my rearend?

 

woah, just called the guy and he says $315 to regear my rear, labor only. I am extremely pleased with that quote! Gonna take it up to him and see what he would charge to just do it all, parts and labor.

 

Hey, do you guys know what to look for to find out if I have the right carrier? That Jeep one, it would be nice if it happened to be both 31 spline and large gear.. dunno what else I need to look for, I don't think reverse rotation matters on a carrier, does it?

 

our front ends are 30spline.

a new carrier shouldnt be more the $60 at most. now that would be an open carrier. an LS of course you would want to buy new in my opinion. Hard to say what condition a used one would be in.

that labor price is awesome. thats what i paid / axle also for mine.
not sure if low pinion carrier would work in a hi pinion diff or not. I know the gears are different.