which is the best brand for a gear

[redbird94]

which is the best brand for a gear that is not to loud, and doesnt rub? a 373 is what i want

[2cub49]

Motive's seem to be the best for noise etc. Mine don't whine but do chatter a bit coming off the pedal.

[wolfdogs]

GM...get GM. seen too many complaints for years about everything else but.

i run em.

[Joe 1320]

Get the SLP/GM/Motive gears from Mike at Stealth Performance. He has the gears and the install kit for awesome pricing.

[PUREPWR]

GM Motives are great

I would reccommend a GM motive ring and pinion. I have a 3:73 gear in my car now and I have no complaints about it now. The only time my gear "whines" is when i am going in reverse over like 10 mph's. My buddy has a 373 Strange Eng. ring and pinion and it "whines" really bad, I would recommend a GM motive gear set.


1996 Black T/A, 3:73 gears, t-tops, new trans with 3000 stall and lt4 hotcam coming in spring.

[tclelland]

Joe,

What type of install procedure is involved if I purchase the Stealth / GM 3:73 gears and installation kit? I consider my self "handy" with tools but certainly not on the level of a mechanic. Thanks! Tom

[2cub49]

Preferably find a mechanic who's done lots of rear ends. Gears can be a tricky thing to set up. Essentially you have to get the meshing pattern centered plumb on the teeth with a gap of 8 thou or so.As you have to accomplish some of this by tightenning up the pinion on the crush bearing if you're inexperienced you'll probably get it wrong and have whining or chatter. If you overcrush the bearing it will have to be replaced and done over.
Trust me, pay a pro 200-250 to do this.

[wolfdogs]

Originally posted by tclelland
Joe,

What type of install procedure is involved if I purchase the Stealth / GM 3:73 gears and installation kit? I consider my self "handy" with tools but certainly not on the level of a mechanic. Thanks! Tom

not joe here.....but i can tell you from years of experience and from doing ring and pinion swaps on several cars.......the f body is not one to take lightly. these gears are the same ones that go in an s10 pickup. they are undersized for our cars. install is critical on backlash and proper set up. it takes an experienced mechanic to do the install properly to avoid getting em chewed up or just plain noisy. call around and find someone whos done them before and is confident in thier ability.

[Joe 1320]

Originally posted by wolfman
not joe here.....but i can tell you from years of experience and from doing ring and pinion swaps on several cars.......the f body is not one to take lightly. these gears are the same ones that go in an s10 pickup. they are undersized for our cars. install is critical on backlash and proper set up. it takes an experienced mechanic to do the install properly to avoid getting em chewed up or just plain noisy. call around and find someone whos done them before and is confident in thier ability.

Um... yeah, what wolfie said. Somewhere he has a page set up for what should be done for a proper ring and pinion setup on these cars. I would print that out and take it to the shop that is going to set up your gears. .005 backlash is ideal. The guy that did mine is a fanatic about detail. He did it, drove it, wasn't happy, took it apart and did it again before he put his seal of approval. They are a bugger to do correctly so there is no noise. BTW, the install kit contains all the stuff like bearings and such that you'll want to freshen up when doing gears.

[2cub49]

I got the Motive 3.73s from SLP and my mechanic instaled them with 8 thou backlash. He said that was the number stamped on them. They don't whine at all but have an annoying chatter when they're floating between being loaded and unloaded.
Is 8 thou too much for these gears?
I'd really like to get rid of the chatter and since the pinion seal is leaking do you think I should have the backlash set at say 6 thou if I get my leak fixed.

[2cub49]

I added a liter of honey thick like oil additive designed to quiet down gearboxes to my rear end and it cut the chatter noise by half. Much better but just a bandaid.

[N20LT4Bird]

Originally posted by 2cub49
I added a liter of honey thick like oil additive designed to quiet down gearboxes to my rear end and it cut the chatter noise by half. Much better but just a bandaid.

Changing the pinion seal and setting backlash are two different ball games. Resetting the backlash would involve removing the carrier and reshimming the the pinion for more depth in the case. This is why rear ends are such a technical job. Often times you can remove and install the pinion and carrier 3 or 4 times before you finally get it right. If your backlash was set @ .008 thousands when new, its probably more like .009 - .010 now.

[2cub49]

Since my pinion seal is leaking the carrier would have to come out to fix that . I could have my mechanic set the backlash tighter.So you think that running 6 thou backlash would be no problem?
Redoing a rear end is a 2 1/2 hr job for my mechanic and I could have him do it net time I have my car seviced.

[N20LT4Bird]

You only have to remove the driveshaft and the yolk to replace the seal.

[2cub49]

Ok I didn't realize that, but I still like an opinion on tightening up the backlash from 8 to 6 thou to eliminate this chatter I have.