I need to regear because I'm going from 29's to 33's. I see that a new ring and pinion is around $230 for my existing 8.8". I found a 9" out of a truck with the gears I want from the same year as mine for way less than the ring and pinion would cost. So how difficult is it to swap out the rear ends?

 

While regearing you need to keep the gear ratios the same in both axles.

Say you have 4.10 in the rear, you HAVE to have 4.10 in your front. Swapping the rear axle to a lower ratio means you have to swap the front. Or swap out the gear.

Which is easier just to do from the beginning without the axle swap.

 

It will bolt in.

You may need to shorten or lengthen the driveshaft.

If you have the e4od or other computer controlled trans you need the VSS on the axle. The 9" won't have this.

 

wait...wheres the VSS on the mazda 5 speed? t-case or tranny? ... i thought for some reason it was on the diff also?...damn if my VSS isnt on the diff ill be up for another axle swap next spring LOL

 

Wow... just..... wow.... Haha.

I'll be sure to keep you company in the forums for the six months to follow that.

 

How hard is it to regear it? I'm thinking taking it to a shop it would cost an arm and a leg to do. That's why I thought it would just be easier to swap out the end.

 

It takes special tools to do the gearing in your axle.

 

If you swap the rear end with a different gear you gotta match the front. It is not that difficult to do but it is time consuming and can get a little frustrating. Patients is key to get it as close to perfect as the gear set will allow. Find someone with some experience in setting up gears to help you out and read up on it. You'll need a dial caliper or a micrometer to measure shims and a dial indicator to measure backlash.

 

oh cummon now...i did a lot more than just a SAS in those 6 months LOL...

 

Thanks for repeating what I said in the first post.



Hokie93, if you really want to regear. (Which i'm not sure is all that needed.) I would suggest just getting the gears installed. It would be alot easier and probably for the better.

 

Off road wheeling is a ''hobby'' and before you can do that you have to prepare your vehicle. Working on your rig comes before playing with it, right? I thought setting up gears was the coolest thing I've done to mine so far. It's a good experience. I had a mechanic for cummins help me out with the rear, he's got alot of experience with all kinds of vehicles and heavy equiptment and I did the front alone. Its nice looking at your truck knowing that you've done everything yourself. If you dont have someone to teach you, you may be better off paying someone though

 

Alright thanks for all the info. The truck is slowly getting bulit up as my wheeler. Grandpas old truck since it only has 83k on it I wanted to do something with it. I'm slowly collecting the parts for the 4x4 conversion which when I get all the parts won't take me as long to swap in as 9.ford.5's SAS.

 

> Its nice looking at your truck knowing that you've done everything yourself.

I agree 100%

 

ROFL! That was good.

I have to admit, not only is it a nice feeling to be able to look at what you've done and say "Damn.. I did that myself. " but its alot cheaper to do things yourself. Although if you don't know what you're doing, and have no one to show you, then you should pay the professionals. You don't want to look at your truck on fire and say "Damn.. I did that myself. :\" Lol.

 

Haha agreed, not sure about the fire an all but maybe broke