new gears

bubaloo1983 · Post by **bubaloo1983** » Sat Apr 10, 2004 10:58 am

hey everyone im thinking of changing the gears in my truck now but i have a question for ya... ( i have 3.42 and i want 3.73) is it worth it to go to a wrecker and see if they have a beat up sonoma like mine maybe a little older and take the gears? instead of getting new ones? as well how much u think this will cost? and what kinda work is involved swaping them...i will need to take her to a shop right? thx

laterz

oh and one more thing is it woth it in terms of the difference it will make in the power? thx

Post by **HenryJ** » Sat Apr 10, 2004 11:39 am

Worth it , yes if you are changing tire size.

What are you doing with your crew? Offroad ,or streeter? Mostly city/country or mostly highway?

IMO, 29" or less 3.73's are good, 30" or bigger go with 4.10's.

I think Hobie paid around $1000 for the change to 4.10's?

If you can find a good rear axle w/gears , that would be an easy swap. The front will be a pita , no matter what you do.

Ithink it will be about the same price swap or install new. I'd go with new.

bubaloo1983 · Post by **bubaloo1983** » Sat Apr 10, 2004 11:44 am

i will probably go with 31 inch tires after the gear switch....and will do some offraod but mostly for camping. so i would like the bigger tires and not lose the power...is it the same price for 4.10 as it is for 3.73? and if im buying new where could i get them? im lost on places to get stuff for my truck. so you dont think it would be good to go to a wrecker theN?

Post by **HenryJ** » Sat Apr 10, 2004 11:59 am

If you are going to 31's, you must get the 4.10's , if you are going to switch.
It puts you right back to the ideal ratio for power and mileage.

There are many places to order your gears, but you might just check the local shops that install to see if they give a break on price if they do the install.
Do consider adding a posi to the rear. It will add little to no cost on the install, and now would be the time to get it done.

I use Richmond gears.

Check out this thread: Low gear questions - Hobbie? or anyone? ( several places to price gear sets)

Paul may have some good advice for you too. PM him if He dosen't see this thread.

a2b · Post by **a2b** » Sat Apr 10, 2004 10:44 pm

finding a truck with 3.73's will be the cheapest. but not for getting the gears, but for swaping the whole front diff out and rear out. just for puling the gears, thats not worth it at all! gears arent that much, its the labor that costs so much. and rear end shops will hate your truck by the way. the s-10 front diff is IFS as it is, and then its hard as hell to deal with. also be prepared for 13mpg with 31's and 4.10's.

Bad_Ass_S10 · Post by **Bad_Ass_S10** » Sun Apr 11, 2004 12:06 am

you could look for a complete rear end that has 3.73 gears already with disc brakes and came from a crew cab -

what ya know, I have one in the back yard with your name on it for the right $$$ - came from my 01 crew cab with 28000 miles , disc brake and 3.73 with that factory locker - if interested email me @ wolfey971@tampabay.rr.com

Bad_Ass_S10 · Post by **Bad_Ass_S10** » Sun Apr 11, 2004 12:09 am

Better yet, if you want the front too, I have it and will sell it all for a reasonable price - complete rear and front with 3.73 - you get from rotor to rotor

Post by **HenryJ** » Sun Apr 11, 2004 12:30 am

Bad_Ass_S10 wrote:Better yet, if you want the front too, I have it and will sell it all for a reasonable price - complete rear and front with 3.73 - you get from rotor to rotor

Nothing better than a bolt on swap. There is your answer!

If the price is cheaper than the cost of gears and a locker, I'd say go for it. The labor would be pretty much the same.

Check on the shipping costs first though. That could be the deal breaker if you are too far from Florida.

Bad_Ass_S10 · Post by **Bad_Ass_S10** » Sun Apr 11, 2004 12:48 am

All depends on where buba is form - I am in Tampa, Fl

bubaloo1983 · Post by **bubaloo1983** » Sun Apr 11, 2004 12:04 pm

yeeks im in vancouver bc canada. so its better to just swap the entire axles then is what your saying? cause if gears are cheaper then the labour i have a buddy who is a mechanic and i could get a goo deal on labour...abut 40 bucks an hour canadian. so maybe you guys could help me out on prices hear. so what is the price for 4.10s backa dn front...just parts...or as you say the hole axles you have? oh and on that gear site henry hich link do i go to to look at the gears....i was kinda lost :S lol thx for all yor help!
laterz

Post by **HenryJ** » Sun Apr 11, 2004 12:14 pm

Summit Racing carries Richmond gears, Paul had a link to West Coast Differential , you would have to call for prices, Justins link for Randy's Ring and Pinion requires a phone call too.

Bad_Ass_S10 · Post by **Bad_Ass_S10** » Sun Apr 11, 2004 1:01 pm

IF interested, I can check to see what the rates for shipping will be - I think with my company we get a very good rate on shipping - we ship alot of heavy things all the time so I will go out and weigh all the parts and talk to our shippping handler,

a2b · Post by **a2b** » Sun Apr 11, 2004 1:31 pm

gears run about 150 bucks a set. you need 2. the swap thing sounds pretty good if you can get the whole rear end and front diff there for under 150 shipping.

bubaloo1983 · Post by **bubaloo1983** » Sat Apr 17, 2004 2:19 pm

Ok...so im doing the gear thing i can stands these crappy 3.42s no longer

i need some help though in getting them...my friend is a mechanic and said he would gladdly do the swap for me at half price ( labour) so im set on insalation...now i just need the parts! im going to go 4.10 because im eventually getting 31 in tires and i also feel if im going to do this i misewell go all out and get the most of it. i really hope this swap improves my truck because right now its as slow as a snail! so what is your guys experience with the swap? before bigger tires?? is it a big diference from 3.42 to 4.10s before bigger tires? cause if there is i may just keep the power muhahah instead of going bigger tires. but yeah need some help ordering them best site or place? and how do you go about it? thx you guys rule

laterz

quickbiker · Post by **quickbiker** » Sat Apr 17, 2004 7:47 pm

4.10's be perfect with stock diffs. Any lower would be risking breakage with too small of a pinion.

a2b · Post by **a2b** » Sat Apr 17, 2004 9:14 pm

since i was the only one with 4.10's......

4.10's and 29's will suck ass..sure it will be great off the line, but your top speed will be about 50mph

even with 31's, i thought 4.10's were a bit steep, but it was great power. 32's or 33's will be better with 4.10's....

after i went to 4.10's and 31's...i was gettting like 14mpg.

quickbiker · Post by **quickbiker** » Sat Apr 17, 2004 10:22 pm

If we cared about mileage, we'd all be driving a Honda Civic.

bubaloo1983 · Post by **bubaloo1983** » Sun Apr 18, 2004 11:57 am

ah crappy...im still new with all this so bare with me :S so if i go 4.10s and dont get bigger tires i wont be able to go past 50 ? seriously? thats wierd how come? well if thats the case i want bigger tires anyway but i have to do one first then wait a bit till i save some more money then get the other...ummm what a dilama i tells ya. tires are like 800 bucks here and that about what the gears will cost too. dang eh. oh well ill get the gears first and tires after....but i need some help rdering them! nobody around here sells em...so i have to order...what im confused on what i have to order....im thinking from that pinion site that you guys had posted...but im not sure what to do...maybe you guys could help me? im really bad at this stuff as you can tell. any help would be great. and how come on that site it lists 4.11 instead of 4.10? is that diffrerent or no? thx guys cant wait to get these laterz

a2b · Post by **a2b** » Sun Apr 18, 2004 5:31 pm

800 bucks isnt half price i can tell you that. 500 for parts and labor would be half. and yes, i would do tires first, then gears....and if you are going to lift it, then i would do lift first, then tires and then gears....otherwise you will change tires later and then have to sell your used ones...waiste of money. do it right the first time

quickbiker · Post by **quickbiker** » Sun Apr 18, 2004 6:25 pm

And if you do suspension lift, you can save some money by just dropping the front diff off for a shop to do, cause most of the labor cost is getting it out of the front. Or just do youself.

2bunik · Post by **2bunik** » Sun Apr 18, 2004 9:15 pm

what if I order the parts meet you at the border an toss them over the fence....

wait do they have a fence from us to canada?

jarhead · Post by **jarhead** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 7:22 am

quickbiker wrote:If we cared about mileage, we'd all be driving a Honda Civic.

Or a camry thats suposed to get 30mpg but only gets 25

jarhead · Post by **jarhead** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 7:25 am

2bunik wrote: what if I order the parts meet you at the border an toss them over the fence.... wait do they have a fence from us to canada?

Thats a good idea

a2b · Post by **a2b** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 9:24 am

jarhead wrote:
quickbiker wrote:If we cared about mileage, we'd all be driving a Honda Civic.
Or a camry thats suposed to get 30mpg but only gets 25

camry's suck

jarhead · Post by **jarhead** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 12:11 pm

a2b wrote:
jarhead wrote:
quickbiker wrote:If we cared about mileage, we'd all be driving a Honda Civic.
Or a camry thats suposed to get 30mpg but only gets 25
camry's suck

I'm sure glad I don't have one. I'm especialy glad I didn't get rid of the crew and buy one

border man · Post by **border man** » Sun Apr 25, 2004 2:24 pm

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
what if I order the parts meet you at the border an toss them over the fence.... wait do they have a fence from us to canada?

Us at the Border Patrol would not be very happy with that.

badandy2003cc4x4 · Post by **badandy2003cc4x4** » Thu May 13, 2004 11:37 am

quickbiker wrote:If we cared about mileage, we'd all be driving a Honda Civic.

If we didn't care about mileage we would be driving full size trucks with V10s, and 44s

quickbiker · Post by **quickbiker** » Tue May 18, 2004 3:13 pm

badandy2003cc4x4 wrote:If we didn't care about mileage we would be driving full size trucks with V10s, and 44s

Full size trucks can't do the trails I do.

Snake Eater · Post by **Snake Eater** » Sat May 22, 2004 2:06 am

jarhead wrote:
a2b wrote:
jarhead wrote: Or a camry thats suposed to get 30mpg but only gets 25
camry's suck
I'm sure glad I don't have one. I'm especialy glad I didn't get rid of the crew and buy one

Who needs a Camry or Yotota. My Z28 M6 with TR224 cam and alot of other stuff gets 34mpg on the highway, and runs consistant 12.1s in the 1/4.

My Blazer stock got 22mpg, but now only gets 18-19.

Post by **HenryJ** » Sat May 22, 2004 5:45 am

Snake Eater wrote:...My Z28 M6 with TR224 cam and alot of other stuff gets 34mpg on the highway, and runs consistant 12.1s in the 1/4....

Ok, if we are going to start bragging about wild gas mileage claims...My V65 Sabre can get real close to 50 mpg (if I stay out of the throttle) and runs the quarter in the mid-tens.

a2b · Post by **a2b** » Tue May 25, 2004 2:06 am

Snake Eater wrote: Who needs a Camry or Yotota. My Z28 M6 with TR224 cam and alot of other stuff gets 34mpg on the highway, and runs consistant 12.1s in the 1/4.

AZS10Crew · Post by **AZS10Crew** » Tue May 25, 2004 8:17 am

a2b wrote:
Snake Eater wrote: Who needs a Camry or Yotota. My Z28 M6 with TR224 cam and alot of other stuff gets 34mpg on the highway, and runs consistant 12.1s in the 1/4.

Snake Eater is probably right. I got over 30 a few times with my Z28 A4. It only had intake and exhaust mods, but it still got great gas mileage. I usually got around 20-22 even when going to the drag strip every Friday night.

a2b · Post by **a2b** » Tue May 25, 2004 5:07 pm

AZS10Crew wrote:
Snake Eater is probably right. I got over 30 a few times with my Z28 A4. It only had intake and exhaust mods, but it still got great gas mileage. I usually got around 20-22 even when going to the drag strip every Friday night.

jarhead · Post by **jarhead** » Tue May 25, 2004 5:15 pm

a2b wrote:
AZS10Crew wrote:
Snake Eater is probably right. I got over 30 a few times with my Z28 A4. It only had intake and exhaust mods, but it still got great gas mileage. I usually got around 20-22 even when going to the drag strip every Friday night.

I can see you getting 30mpg if you were doing about 50 and never went above 2000rpm going down hill with a tail wind.

No really it's believable that it could happen once in a while but not on a regular basis. I got 24mpg with the crew one time and 26 with my old 1971 cutlass once but those were both flukes and I don't go around saying that is what I get on a regular basis

AZS10Crew · Post by **AZS10Crew** » Tue May 25, 2004 7:40 pm

I didn't regularly take long trips with my 99 LS1 Z28, but on the couple occasions I did, it was with the cruise set at around 70-80 most of the time back and forth to Vegas from Phoenix. On those trips it got over 30 mpg. In daily driving back and forth to work for over a year, and with some trips to the dragstrip thrown in here and there, it never got below 20. I didn't say it got 30 mpg every day, but every time I drove it on a long trip with the cruise set on normal highway conditions (not downhill with a tailwind) it got 30 mpg. If it gets 30 mpg every time you drive it on a trip, I'd think that it's safe to say it's capable of getting 30 mpg.

jarhead · Post by **jarhead** » Tue May 25, 2004 7:46 pm

AZS10Crew wrote:I didn't regularly take long trips with my 99 LS1 Z28, but on the couple occasions I did, it was with the cruise set at around 70-80 most of the time back and forth to Vegas from Phoenix. On those trips it got over 30 mpg. In daily driving back and forth to work for over a year, and with some trips to the dragstrip thrown in here and there, it never got below 20. I didn't say it got 30 mpg every day, but every time I drove it on a long trip with the cruise set on normal highway conditions (not downhill with a tailwind) it got 30 mpg. If it gets 30 mpg every time you drive it on a trip, I'd think that it's safe to say it's capable of getting 30 mpg.

Sorry man just giving ya a hard time

AZS10Crew · Post by **AZS10Crew** » Tue May 25, 2004 7:46 pm

jarhead wrote:
AZS10Crew wrote:I didn't regularly take long trips with my 99 LS1 Z28, but on the couple occasions I did, it was with the cruise set at around 70-80 most of the time back and forth to Vegas from Phoenix. On those trips it got over 30 mpg. In daily driving back and forth to work for over a year, and with some trips to the dragstrip thrown in here and there, it never got below 20. I didn't say it got 30 mpg every day, but every time I drove it on a long trip with the cruise set on normal highway conditions (not downhill with a tailwind) it got 30 mpg. If it gets 30 mpg every time you drive it on a trip, I'd think that it's safe to say it's capable of getting 30 mpg.

Sorry man just giving ya a hard time

I know. Just representin' for the good ol' F-Body.

AZS10Crew · Post by **AZS10Crew** » Tue May 25, 2004 7:47 pm

a2b wrote:
AZS10Crew wrote:
Snake Eater is probably right. I got over 30 a few times with my Z28 A4. It only had intake and exhaust mods, but it still got great gas mileage. I usually got around 20-22 even when going to the drag strip every Friday night.

Bite me tiara boy.

jarhead · Post by **jarhead** » Tue May 25, 2004 7:51 pm

AZS10Crew wrote:
a2b wrote:
AZS10Crew wrote:
Snake Eater is probably right. I got over 30 a few times with my Z28 A4. It only had intake and exhaust mods, but it still got great gas mileage. I usually got around 20-22 even when going to the drag strip every Friday night.

Bite me tiara boy.

Now that is funnay. How did he know about the tiara Hobie???

a2b · Post by **a2b** » Tue May 25, 2004 8:40 pm

cuz i told him

no, i am sure they both did what they claimed. i just like to have a reasont to use my bs flag and meter every once in a while

NTXCrew · Post by **NTXCrew** » Wed May 26, 2004 6:10 am

for the new GTO

Estimated Fuel Economy in MPG**

City Highway

5.7 Liter Automatic 16 21

5.7 Liter Manual 17 29

so it sounds feasible to me....

jarhead · Post by **jarhead** » Wed May 26, 2004 4:13 pm

NTXCrew wrote:for the new GTO

Estimated Fuel Economy in MPG**

City Highway

5.7 Liter Automatic 16 21

5.7 Liter Manual 17 29

so it sounds feasible to me....

now that is just another reason to get a new goat