New here in SC - 2015 Gear Swap Question

[Clarken015]

Does anyone have any experience with a gear swap in a 2014/15 Chevrolet Silverado?

 

I purchased a 2015 Silverado, 5.3L with 3.42 gears, it has a 6" lift & 35" tires, it's a custom 1 of 1 truck built by American Luxury Coach.

 

http://www.offroadxtreme.com/features/sema-coverage/sema-2014-sherwin-williams-paint-stands-out-on-childress-truck/

 

I love the truck, but with the current set up it's lacking power, first thing I wanted to do after talking with the builders was swap the gears from 3.42 to 3.73 gears. I called the dealership where I bought the truck, an authorized Chevrolet Dealership mind you to get pricing & time estimates. I was quoted $1900 for the gears and $104 (speedometer calibration). Here's where the fun begins, I tell them to order the parts, on 1/14/15 I was told all parts were in, so I dropped the truck off for a scheduled appt. @ 7:30 a.m. on 1/15/15 for what I was told would be a 13 hour procedure. Needless to say I was antsy to get my truck back, I finally spoke with the service rep on Friday evening when he told me it wasn't finished, literally said I have good news & bad news. Needless to say, I didn't like the sounds of that, well it turns out that after 2013 they changed the rear axle, and the housing would rub, that's the good news, the bad news is it would cost an additional $600 for the housing. I was a little miffed, as they should know the requirements, they are a dealer for crying out loud, and when they ordered OEM parts you would think that everything necessary for the swap would be mentioned. And to top that off, they could have it overnighted & it would be in on Monday 1/19/15, reluctantly I moved forward. It arrived Monday morning, at which point they told me they were also waiting on a bearing that would be in that afternoon, no cost amount issued regarding that. They felt sure it would be ready on 1/20/15, well after many calls to the service rep, the service manager called and said, "last he was told, I said just keep the truck until it was ready", I informed him that didn't mean the end of time. He said they were having a problem locating the specific tool necessary to install said bearing, again you would think someone would have had this done in the past 2 years so it wouldn't be an issue, but obviously not. I've not heard anything yet this morning on locating the tool, but I did contact American Luxury Coach, as the designer seems to be well versed in the vehicles, and he said it may also require new U-Joints, and that he would call to offer any assistance.

 

So, anybody else tried to swap the gears in a 2014/15 Silverado, what kind of pricing did you incur, any issues, time frame etc. I appreciate any and all incite regarding this, needless to say I'm frustrated as heck that my truck with 650 miles on it is still in the shop with end in site.

 

Thanks!

[Btuggle88]

Welcome nice truck, what part of SC.

[Clarken015]

Welcome nice truck, what part of SC.

Lexington, SC.

[Btuggle88]

Lexington, SC.

I stay in Sumter.

[00Silverado4x4]

Welcome, great looking truck.

[Clarken015]

Apparently there is a bearing tool required, and it doesn't exist. Right now they are saying they will re-install the 3.42 gears since they can't locate this tool. Anyone have any insight on what this thing is, where it can be found???

[Clarken015]

So the solution was to just put it back to stock 3.42 gears, how a dealership can quote a job they can't perform is beyond me. They've had my truck 10 days, and literally did nothing other than take out my old gears, and then re-install the same gear...Sad!

[Stevens03]

Wow, you could have bought an entire rear end for that kind of money and had that swapped much easier.

[LifeisthePits]

I have been waiting for 4.88's for a while and Yukon and Motive finally came out with them. If you were just trying for 3.73's this shouldn't have been an issue because you can get the extreme towing package with the 3.73's on a 5.3 with the 9.5" 12 bolt. If you were trying to go aftermarket above that before a few weeks ago you would have run into this problem but just going to 3.73's means the dealer ordered the wrong part.

 

Also, all that money just to go to 3.73's?!

[Clarken015]

Wow, you could have bought an entire rear end for that kind of money and had that swapped much easier.

I asked about that, they told me it wasn't an option.

[Clarken015]

They just sent me a survey, big mistake...

 

"My Experience:

I love the truck, but with the current set up it's lacking power, first thing I wanted to do after talking with the builders was swap the gears from 3.42 to 3.73 gears. I called the dealership where I bought the truck, an authorized Chevrolet Dealership, spoke with Greg the service manager to get pricing & time estimates. I was quoted $1900 for the gears and $104 (speedometer calibration). Here's where the fun begins, I tell them to order the parts, on 1/14/15 I was told all parts were in, so I dropped the truck off for a scheduled appt. @ 7:30 a.m. on 1/15/15 for what I was told would be a 13 hour procedure. Needless to say I was antsy to get my truck back, I finally spoke with the service rep on Friday evening when he told me it wasn't finished, literally said I have good news & bad news. Needless to say, I didn't like the sounds of that, well it turns out that after 2013 they changed the rear axle, and the housing would rub, that's the good news, the bad news is it would cost an additional $600 for the housing. I was a little miffed, as they should know the requirements, they are a dealer for crying out loud, and when they ordered OEM parts you would think that everything necessary for the swap would be mentioned. And to top that off, they could have it over-nighted & it would be in on Monday 1/19/15, reluctantly I moved forward. It arrived Monday morning, at which point they told me they were also waiting on a bearing that would be in that afternoon, no cost amount issued regarding that. They felt sure it would be ready on 1/20/15, well after many calls to the service rep, the service manager called and said, "last he was told, I said just keep the truck until it was ready", I informed him that didn't mean the end of time. He said they were having a problem locating the specific tool necessary to install said bearing, again you would think someone would have had this done in the past 2 years so it wouldn't be an issue, but obviously not. I spoke with the manager (Greg) on Wednesday 1/21/15, he pointedly told me he had ordered replacement 3.42 gears (what happened with the original ones) and the tool (although he was still trying to locate one), whichever came in first is what they would do. I heard absolutely nothing until a friend of mine saw my truck being driven on 1/26/15, I'm assuming a test run. I contacted the salesman who could offer me no information other than it was in clean up. He later texted me that the truck was ready and I could pick up the keys from another salesman in the showroom. They didn't even call me from the service department, and the truck, after 11 days, was back to the same condition. I'm still miffed, they will never see me again at this dealership, and I'll be reluctant to ever buy another Chevrolet. How can you quote a job for something you can't do, it's mind boggling to say the least!"

[Clarken015]

I have been waiting for 4.88's for a while and Yukon and Motive finally came out with them. If you were just trying for 3.73's this shouldn't have been an issue because you can get the extreme towing package with the 3.73's on a 5.3 with the 9.5" 12 bolt. If you were trying to go aftermarket above that before a few weeks ago you would have run into this problem but just going to 3.73's means the dealer ordered the wrong part.

 

Also, all that money just to go to 3.73's?!

Apparently this is an impossible swap! I'm back to 3.42 gears after 11 days of waiting...pathetic to say the least! Hopefully the supercharger ends up going much smoother, American Luxury Coach is working on this now!

[Stevens03]

I asked about that, they told me it wasn't an option.

Someones totaled one with 3.73 gears in it somewhere. I'd bet with some time on the internet, you could find one.

 

 

Edit: here's a quick example

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2014-Chevy-Silverado-Rear-Axle-Complete-w-brakes-74-miles-/231440675112?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item35e2f07128&vxp=mtr

[Clarken015]

Someones totaled one with 3.73 gears in it somewhere. I'd bet with some time on the internet, you could find one.

 

 

Edit: here's a quick example

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2014-Chevy-Silverado-Rear-Axle-Complete-w-brakes-74-miles-/231440675112?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item35e2f07128&vxp=mtr

I was told it wasn't an option, they only sell the parts, at least according to the dumbass at the dealership. A Quick google search revealed this...

 

http://media.gm.com/media/us/en/chevrolet/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2014/Jun/0619-silverado1500.html

 

Configuration

2014

(Pre SAE J2807)

2015

(SAE J2807)

Regular cab 2WD 4.3L V-6 6.5’ box 3.43 axle

6,400 lbs.

6,100 lbs.

Double cab 2WD 5.3L V-8 6.5’ box 3.08 axle

6,900 lbs.

6,500 lbs.

Crew cab 2WD 5.3L V-8 5.7’ box 3.42 axle

9,800 lbs.

9,400 lbs.

Regular cab 4x4 4.3L V-6 6.5’ box 3.42 axle

7,600 lbs.

7,600 lbs.

Double cab 4x4 5.3L V-8 6.5’ box 3.42 axle

9,600 lbs.

9,200 lbs.

Crew cab 4x4 5.3L V-8 5.7’ box 3.73 axle

11,200 lbs.

10,800 lbs.

 

Looks like it's available to me!

[txab]

Welcome