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Changing Gears In Axle


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I just bought a '85 silverado with 38' tires and what I assume are factory gears in the 10 bolt. I want to change to 4.88 since this is gonna be just a mud toy. I've never done this before but am very mechanically inclined. Is this hard to do and get right? Do I need any special tools? Should I just suck it up and have it done by a shop??? Thanks for any info.

Posted

you will need a dial indicator, preferably one with a magnetic base, which a cheaper one is about $50, some gear marking compound to check the pattern (some people use it, some don't, but measurements don't lie), You also may need a new crush sleeve, and possibly some shims, but both of those depend on the rear end you have, I'm not sure about the 10 bolts. Also you should use a press, but you can torque the new gears on to the diff as long as you do it evenly back and forth. I bought a G80 diff off ebay, and was on the fence about doing it myself, I was confident on how to do it, but I didn't want to run in to needing shims and being down, so the guy I bought it from got layed off from his job, and now all he does is differential and rear axle work, he custom makes axles for drag cars and whatnot, and sends them all over the world. He charged me about $200 to install if I remember correctly

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