I have decided to get my rear end upgraded to Richmond 3.73's by the same guy that is installing my SuperRammed ZZ4 and T56.

I told him that I wanted Richmond 3.73's swapped in and he told me:
(1.)I don't want Richmond because "all they do is whine and they arent even that strong" and that I want America West gears or Global west... something like that (he said they are the best)
(2.)I will need a new carrier in order to accomodate 3.73's.

I first told him that the general conscensus is that Richmond is the only way to go when replacing rear gears and he said no. I think he is an authorized dealer of those particualr gears, can get them cheap and them sell them to me at a profit. Anyone else agree?

I also told him that I have a 3 series carrier and that the posi unti and carrier should still be good. They told me that there is no way it will fit and that I need a new carrier. Jeg's specifically sells 3.73's that fit a rear orginally equipped with 3.23's.

What's the deal with all of this?? Any ideas, information, insight, comments, suggestions would be great! Thanks.

 

Richmond gears are made specifically for drag racing. They are stronger in that specific application. They may or may not last any longer than any others on the street. They are well known for causing noise complaints from owners who heard that they're "stronger", insist on them, and then don't like the noise. Mechanics hate taking the risk of a comeback for something like that (noise) that's beyond their control, and a certain proportion of the population will bring their car back for that noise, no doubt about it. If you don't mind the noise that's more or less inevitable, and you plan on drag racing the car and not doing much else with it, then maybe Richmonds are for you.

Other gears that one might get are GM Motive, Superior, and US Gear. All are high quality gears. All will create less noise than the Richmonds, last longer on the street, but will be more prone to failure from drag racing. If you mostly drive the car on the street, and you only occasionally drag race it, and you're the kind of person that is bothered by strange mechanical noises coming from expensive major drive train compnents that you don't know how to work on, then one of those might be better for you.

Avoid cheap gears from the Far East no matter how strongly the mechanic / dealer swears by them.

I've never heard of gears with the other brand names you mention.

Stock configuration 3.73s will fit a carrier with 3.23s on it, in this particular model of rear end. I've swapped them myself enough times to be quite sure of that. You don't even need special gears, or a spacer. They bolt right up.

 

interesting...

 

Most guys at the track run Richmonds and like stated above they do have more "noise" than other brands. AND there have been 2 cases that I personally know of where they shredded the gears, they took them to work and did (can't remember exact name of test) but they checked the hardness of the gears and they were waaay to hard, Richmond fully remebursed for new gear set and labor once they got them back and tested them for themselves to make sure the claim was correct.

 

I did a search on the world wide internet for american west gear and global west gear - nothing about those two companies. (Found all of Global West's suspension parts, though, but they dont make gears, so your mech must be thinking of a different global west.)

But go to http://www.yahoo.com and do a search for "GM Motive gear" or "Richmond gear", let us know how it goes. From what I've read/heard, you really can't get upset with GM Motive gears.

Maybe you could call a few other places, not saying you -have- to deal with them, but just call them and see what gears they'd recommend.

 

Yes it is true that Richmonds 'Rockwell' out VERY hard, and for most applications, too hard (this is the reason for the noise). And NO it doesnt make them any stronger than any other manufacturer. There is a gearset that Richmond produces that IS stronger for a drag racing application. They are called 'High Impact' gearsets. They are for drag racing ONLY. They are too soft for everyday or even street use. Being constructed of a softer material allows the tooth to flex instead of sheering off and absorbs higher impacts from hard launching ( lots-o-power or a trans brake, etc...) and people have most likely confused this with the typical street gear sets.

To this day, and after building thousands of differentials, (but specifically concerning the 3rd and 4th Gen differentials) the gear set of choise has been USGear and/or Precision Gear. There is nothing wrong with OE/Motive gear sets either. But when dealing with the 3.42, 3.73, 4.10 and 4.56 ratios specifically, I have experienced the best results with USGear. FYI, Precision purchased all of USGear's old machinery, which just happends to be the same machines that all the GM gearsets have been produced on since 1963, so if you notice they (some OE, USGear and Precision) look the same, its because they were produced by the same machines. Being that I have been doing differentials for about 17 years in many forms of racing, this is how and why I have shaped my opinion this way. The USGear sets are the easiest to set up and have the best reputation in the differential world.

Unfortunately, alot of gearsets are produced outside the U.S. and their quality is, well questionable. Funny how some of the gearsets you may purchase are just reboxed sets from outside the U.S.. The reason for this, is that not all manufacturers produce all ratios.....so they fill in their line with what ever they can get.

It really comes down to the tech setting up your differential. Some 'know' and some do not. But there are a-lot of tricks to help your gear sets live longer....like deburring the gearset....and........