Gearsets


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Posted by Charlie on October 01, 1999 at 02:28:45:

In Reply to: Okay..thanks for answers..another question here.. posted by Wayne on September 28, 1999 at 08:45:25:

Yes of course, there's 4.89 gears, available from MARS and Veteran Vehicles and mabe VPW. Of course they work! If installed properly. The Dodge diff looks easy because it's a dropout 3rd member with adjustable side bearings. That's the easy part. There's two hard parts; srtting up pinion bearing preload (3 instead of the usual 2), and, if a Lockright is to be installed (might as well at least in the rear diff if you're going that far and actually plan to USE the rig, i.e. in mud, deep snow etc. - don't put one in the front unless power steering is on the list), taking the closed carrier apart and re-assembling properly is tricky. read the manual, if you don't think you can do it don't even try. Some professionals are stumped by the pinion bearings. Make sure you hire someone who knows how to do it.
The gearing change increases road speed by 19.3% at a given RPM; decreases RPM by 16.2% at a given road speed. So if your cruise speed was 45 and flat out top speed was 55, you'll do 53.7/65.6 with 4.89s. Increasing tire size from say 35" (typical 9.00-16 ND) to 36.9" (9.00R16 XZL) will increase speeds by another 5.4% or about 3mph. Now you're up to 56.6/69. This is all predicated on a strong enough motor. Some are, some aren't. Next modification should be front disk brakes. Gear swap will cost $636 for gears, $260 for Lockright, ~$600 for labor, plus bearings. Bearings have skyrocketed in price. Two full sets could be over $800 for the eight. So it's $2300 to do it right.
Charlie


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