Ring And Pinion

optimus_prime0787 · April 7, 2008

well after two days of fiddling with my truck i finally got a pattern that makes me happy to put it all back together. i ordered a set of richmond 3.73:1 gears and have spent all weekend trying to get everything right. needless to say i had a perfect pattern yesterday and put it back together and long story short it was howling driving down the road so i tore it back apart to see if it was off (it was).

the install instructions i got were not exactly accurate and it took me consulting a friend who works on rearends to see what to do. After hours of pressing bearings and shims i feel like i am comfortable enough with the pattern to put it back together. i have to wait until the morning to get a new "crush sleeve" in order to do the final install.

my advice if you want to do a ring and pinion yourself....BE VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY patient...

i will post some pics up of the install tomorrow after i finish along with results of the final product.

Wingnut · April 7, 2008

Very cool man. Not many people will do gears.

I'm working up the courage myself

optimus_prime0787 · April 7, 2008

Very cool man. Not many people will do gears.

I'm working up the courage myself

most of it is definitely getting past the fear. for me it was getting past the fact i was messing with a 2006. i got the gears in today and they are good. they have a faint whine (but i was told this will go away after they break in). the difference is noticeable. i did have a light come on that said "service brake system" and it shut ABS off. i figured out that it is because there is a MPH difference between the ABS wheel sensor and the speedometer sensor so it thinks the wheels are going slower than the speedo. i am going to order Jesse's PCM from wait4me to fix this.

i will post some pics up of the install (which i would recommend to anyone who has a hydraulic press and magnetic dial indicator)...if you take your time and if you are picky about what you are doing then you will do a good job. i pressed the pinion bearing off AT LEAST 15 times to get the depth right...as soon as that was right everything else just fell in place. i cant wait to see how it will hurt my fuel mileage!!

optimus_prime0787 · April 7, 2008

here are some pics of the install

below is a picture of how it was tracking after about the third time shimming it. notice how the drive side is high and centered and the coast is bullet shaped. this means the pinion is too shallow and needs to come in towards the center of the ring gear more...

here is a picture of the final shim job. notice how the coast side is oval shaped and in the center of the gear and equal distance from top to bottom. the drive side is a little inward towards the toe (inside) of the gear, but it is oval shaped as well. there is no way to shim and get this towards the center unless you have a machine shop machine your rear pinion bearing housing to get it true. i was worried about this at first but was told there was nothing i could do and my tracking was better than from the factory. the backlash was a perfect 0.010" as well...

Draenor · April 7, 2008

Nice job.

optimus_prime0787 · April 13, 2008

Nice job.

I went to Missouri for a week and just got back this morning and hopped in it to take it around the block...i dont remember it being that much of a difference!! Supposedly it is 15% more power to the ground, but damn it kind of woke it up a bit! Second gear accel. is exactly what my first gear was before. Definitely the best money i have spent on my truck thus far! Next weekend i get to see how she does in the mountains

svensk · April 13, 2008

Nice job.

I went to Missouri for a week and just got back this morning and hopped in it to take it around the block...i dont remember it being that much of a difference!! Supposedly it is 15% more power to the ground, but damn it kind of woke it up a bit! Second gear accel. is exactly what my first gear was before. Definitely the best money i have spent on my truck thus far! Next weekend i get to see how she does in the mountains

nice. i have 3.73s and want 4.10's!

cao88c · April 14, 2008

I love the difference that gears make. I'm a Jeeper, and I know of lots of people in my club that save all their money for lifts and tires, but never budget for the gears. Imagine driving a jeep on 35's with 3.07 or 3.73 gears!

I do most of the axle work on the jeeps in our club, and I got to hand it to you for tackling that job by yourself! That takes some "cojones". Most people don't realize how much precision goes in to properly setting up gears.

Congrats!