SINISTER

So about two weeks ago I took two days and installed my 4.30 gears. The install went as smooth as could be, and could have been done in a day but my buddy and I didn't start till late, then ended up needing a shop to pull the old bearings off and press the new ones on, so it went over a day. I took some pics along the way of the install and figured I'd share. Here you go:
The stock gears in the housing after opening it up. (used gear oil smells horrible by the way)

After taking the carrier out, you can see the old pinion gear clearly.

The stock stuff removed from the diff. housing.

Cleaned out the housing, you can see the last pinion bearing race in place in the center.

The new ring gear on the cleaned up carrier.

The new pinion gear in place, had already seated the races and got the bearings and shims and everything set.

Carrier in place, checking backlash with the dial indicator.

After getting the backlash set to within spec, marked the ring gear in some places with gear marking compound and rotated the pinion gear to double check that the depth and backlash were set up correctly. They were.

Put the stock diff. cover back on and filled with fluid. Then took it out for the heat cycles.

Now I'm a little over 500 miles since the install and there is no whine or noise at all from the gears. And I finally got to beat on them a bit. Here's a short vid I took, not the best but you'll get the idea (no traction), but man is it fun.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyX2JfTU2do
Sorry for the long post, hope you all enjoyed it anyway.

pbrr1der

I don't know much about this kinda thing but wut is the backlash and where are bearings and shims that you were talkin about?

SINISTER

Backlash is the amount of play between the pinion gear and ring gear. That is supposed to be between .008" and .015" and is important when it comes to whine and what not. You can't see the shims in the pics, but they are what you use to get the tolerances correct. They go on the ends of the carrier (where the ring gear is seated) behind the bearings, for the carrier shims; and right behind the pinion head in front of the bearing on the pinion gear. If you look in the third pic, you can see the bearings, the thing right behind the pinion head, and on the end of the carrier.

pbrr1der

So basically this isn't a job for an unexperienced mechanic. It didn't look that hard until u started talkin bout backlash and stuff like that.

SINISTER

This was my first time doing a gear install, and it wasn't that bad at all. I had a good set of instructions and just took my time. I'm somewhat mechanically inclined, but in no way am I professionally trained. I'm quite the opposite in fact, and in law school.

pbrr1der

Where did you get the instructions, or did it come with the ring and pinion set?

SINISTER

The set that came with the gear set were a joke. Here is the link to the ones I used: http://www.superstallions.com/tech/d...ars/gears.html

pbrr1der

Thanx

cahtr6

Good job and nice write up. With the right tools and some good instruction nothing is impossible.

^iLLuSiOn^

click the link it has the instructions and tools, also yea gear oil smells and the smell stays for a while, i spilt a 5 gallon pal of it at work about a month ago and that area still stinks.....