if you do change out your gears let us know how much of a difference it made,and again give your son the beer AFTER he does the job.

 

I guess that is just some "professional's way of making a little more money.

I have seen several R & R'd gear sets with the same shims go well over 100k miles.

There is some leeway on installation. Why is the backlash spec so loose? If you can be between 8 to 15 thousands and be ok, there is some leeway. The shims do not have to put you right on the money.

Whatever .....

 

Well in 20+ years of doing this,2-4 rears a WEEK...maybe 5000+ sets of gears or more and I'll bet I haven't used the same pinion shim two dozen times,you must be a lot better than me,I do most of the dealers work aroud here because most guys in a dealership can't do them RIGHT,I know I worked in dealerships for years,as stated above I see it all the time when someone that doesn't know what there doing screws one up and has to buy gears again and start all over again....and no it ain't rocket science,but like alot of things there is a right way,and when you do it everyday and your shops reputation is on the line,why would I just slap them together and hope it's ok?

 

Easy man,

I am not knocking you. The main difference is you do it for a living (with your reputation on the line) and I do it to save money.

In my limited experience (with 8.8's) I have never had a problem. It just seems that a lot of people that are decent mechanics will shy away from doing gears. I don't think they are that difficult if you pay attention to what you are doing.

I can see how a guy like you that does thousands of them would get pretty good at it. How long does it take you per axle? I remember my first one took me about 2 days. lol

Oh, about replacing the bearings with only 60k miles. Those things will last en excess of 200k with just fluid changes. Is that really necessary?

 

Let's not let this turn into a pissing contest, the original poster sure doesn't need it If you want to argue about this sort of thing, you can take it to the driveline forum here on this site ...

I sorta agree with one side, and sorta agree with the other.

In one way, you can re-use the original shim pack thickness, IF you use new bearings, because that's the way they are setup from the factory.

On the other hand, you CAN get away with using the original bearings, but you SHOULD check everything afterwards.

The point I don't get is, how so many people can reuse the original shims AND get a good pattern.

To SuperDutyGuy06, do you EVER use the originals, check them, and wind up getting a bad pattern?

Or do you just start fresh on each and every one and never bother checking it?

Or, worse, do you use non-original bearings like NTN (vs. Timken) and wind up with varying setups because the bearings themselves are not all that perfect each and every time?

Because, again, I've setup quite a few for a shade-tree mechanic, and every time I reuse the original shims, I've found the pattern to be perfect. Except, as I already stated, where the housing was beaten to death to begin with...

 

Not sure if you are talking about rebuilding a rear or setting up a new ring and pinion from the start,so I'll just exsplain what I do,don't want an argument either but I see so many guys ruin a good ring and pinion by not doing it right. On a rebuild situation I just put new Tinkens in ,set the pinion preload and check backlash and ALWAYS use original pinion shim,once in a long time you may have to reshim for backlash,timkens are really consistent and I feel are about the best out there.I NEVER put a new set of gears in without a bearing kit,one of the reasons for that is I rebuild so many "street vehicles",Jeep Cherokees,1500 Chevys,1500 Dodges & 8.8s......for howling,mainly over 100k miles but as little as 50k and the pinion brgs. are bad and the rear howls with on off thottle,and you won't believe how small imperfections can cause that much noise,so when installing a new 200.00-400.00 ring and pinion that can NOT make any noise at all for the customer it would be silly not to spend 100.00-200.00 for a bearing kit that comes with crush collar,pinion seal,and pinion nut.When setting up a new ring and pinion I AWAYS start with original shim,but to get the most Ideal pattern to have NO howl at any speed and be reliable I only remember a handfull that had a perfect pattern right off the bat,and contrary to someones prior comment as an opportunity to charge more money to make it perfect,I charge a flat price whether I have it apart 4 times or once.I do a LOT of dirt circle track gears and sometimes do not change carrier bearings.AWAYS change all for drag race gears as the loads are severe with trans brakes especially.Yes you can use all old bearings and throw old pinion shim in and it comes out "OK" sometimes but is it completely quiet,no noise? And so many guys buy these cheap crap gears at Summit and other places and you might ad .10-.15 to the orginal pinion shim just to get it even close,as anything else when you do it every day you learn tricks to make up for housing machine differences and crappy gear quality from someone bringing me their own parts.My WHOLE point from the beginning of my comments in this thread is to keep some poor guy from spending a pile of money for new parts and someone make him think if he just "replaces" his gears,in a couple hours and everything will be just fine and he ruins his new parts and possible others and has to start all over again......because I see it happen over and over again.....just trying to help shed a little knowledge and help here thats all.

 

Quote:"My WHOLE point from the beginning of my comments in this thread is to keep some poor guy from spending a pile of money for new parts and someone make him think if he just "replaces" his gears,in a couple hours and everything will be just fine and he ruins his new parts and possible others and has to start all over again......because I see it happen over and over again.....just trying to help shed a little knowledge and help here thats all."

Yes ,I agree 100% on above as was my intentions also:

But I am finding most people do not like the truth and want to be told lies
"Sure you can do it, gears are easy" "American cars are the best" "I did not inhale"
"I allway's hide money in the freezer" .

Never underestimate the power of deniel

 

I have been pulling with 4.30 gears for 8 years and they have worked great for me but you have the newer 17" tires on your truck so would have to go to the 4.56 gears to get the same final gears that I have. If I was buying a new truck today I would have the 4.56 or even 4.88 installed form day one.

Denny

 

Pretty cool article regarding rear ends.
Ford 9 Inch Rear End Upgrade - Ring And Pinion Gear Set - Truckin' Magazine

 

RVPuller: Now you got me thinking, bought a new 09 350 cc4x4 with 4.10 rears will it pull my new 5er that weighs 9000 empty.Tell me Tell me inquiring minds want to know!

 

You will have no problems at all, our trailer is a 16K 5ver 24K gross tuck and trailer and we pull it with 2V V10 all over the country including high mountain passes in Colorado. I do wish I had the 5 speed transmission like you do for the big hills .
Denny

 

Thanks RV Puller was wondering. could have got one with 4.30 but backed off thinking fuel milage would really suck. So I got 4.10 instead.

 

I bought my X used with 46,000 miles. It came with 3.73's. While towing my 29' TT (8500 lbs.), that thing hunted for gears something fierce with the slightest rolling hills. Stock tires are 265's and I have 285's. I paid $550 (2wd) and went to 4:30's. NIGHT AND DAY better. And my mpg didn't drop more than 1 mpg in the city, maybe just a touch more than that empty on the highway, but we hardly ever run highway with it without the trailer, so I don't care about that.

 

DIDO......now when I hit a steep hill lets say 8% grade I just throw the R400 into 2nd gear and rev the rpm's to 3,500 to 4,000 and can pretty much maintain 55 to 60mph with no problem.

 

Question?

If you have 3:73 gearing and the 4R100, and you turn overdrive off, what rear ratio does that compare to if you were in overdrive with a higher gear rear end?