pk222

if they are the origional gears then I have 2.73s by the m under the ax. the previous owner told me it had the optional 3.08s but i guess not unless he changed them out after. I will still try the marking the tire and driveshaft and see what I come up with.

I'm planning on eventually swapping to 3.73s once I either find someone who can do it cheep or get an estimate and wait to save up the money. people around here usually say that having the rear gears swapped is around $500 is that including all the parts and rear fluid? that seams a little high to me but then again I don't know much about shop prices at all. I don't want to tackle the job myself. I have to do it somewhat soon because my pinion seal is leaking kinda bad. is there anyway to put in a new pinon seal without ripping appart the diff just to fix it until I can get the rest of the money to install the 3.73s?

VaRust

My car had 2.73s stock with a red speedo gear when we replaced everything. I could do 80 right around 2k now I am at 2500 with the 4.10's doing 60mph..

pk222

thats how I am now

anyone know if I can chage my pinion seal without tearing the diff appart? its leaking kinda bad right now and I don't have the money to do the whole gear swap right now so I was looking to see if I could just install a new seal for now and then the rest in a few months

pk222

for some reason seams like my trans shifts fine now? I don't know almost anything about transmissions but I'm guessing like everything else problems usually dont get better they get worse? I'm expecting the problem to eventually come back worse but seems way better now. no noises, not jumping out of gear, smooth. any explination?

anyone know if I have to take the diff completly appart to change my pinion seal? also I was talking to a couple friends about when I was going to do the rear gear swap and they all say its a shop job because I would need a pinion depth guage and have to have other special tools is this true?

pk222

anyone?

redpony88

it's not a shop job, you can tear it down pretty easily

mjr46

IT IS A SHOP job with regards to reassembly if you do not have a dial indicator and a torque wrench that can measure rotational torque to set preload on pinion bearing and you need to know how to read gear tooth pattern and how to shim for backlash and set proper preload on carrier bearings and you need a proper tool or press to remove pinion bearing so it can be transfered to new pinion

pk222

thank you for all the information. I was getting ready to order the pinion seal because was getting tired of having me car leak diff fluid.
I know this is probably a really common question and I've tried the search function without success but around how much do you think it will be to have 3.73 gears installed without the price of gears or the instillation kit? I'm guessing around $300 but I dont really have any idea.

mjr46

250-300 is a close approximate

pk222

ok, thank you guys for everything. it is very appreciated