Ok guys the 10-bolt in my car blew up on me, a little sooner than i had anticipated, so i havent acquired all the components for the rebuild yet, heres what i have so far:

SLP Zexel take off Posi
28 Spline Axles
Ratech solid pinion spacer

I will be going with a 3.73 ratio , which brand do u guys reccomend? i primarily drive this car on the street and occasional track use, but it has a pretty hard life. Noise, etc. is not a factor i just want some good gears that will take some abuse.what are u all running?any horror stories?, testimonials ? etc. would be very much appreciated.

i am cosidering going with some richmonds since they are only $179 from summit. but i dont mind paying a little more for something better if its out there.

thanks
Matt

 

richmond if you don't mind the extra noise

 

ya, what are good gears to get?!

 

US Gear, Precision Gear, Dana/Spicer, GM Motive, or Richmond.

Richmonds are set up for drag racing and will last longer in a race-heavy application. They will not last as long as the others on the street, but will outlast them on the strip.

They all cost about the same. I would recommend not using Richmond from your description.

http://www.drivetrainspecialists.com...=28&cat=GM+7.5

 

what would u reccomend rb83l69? and why not richmonds?

 

That's why I would not go with Richmonds in your particular situation. It's a street car that will hit the track occasionally, not a race car.

I'd recommend either GM Motive or Precision, those being ones I've had good results with myself. But I've used other products from both US Gear and Spicer with excellent results too. You can't go wrong with any of those, they're all qulity parts. Resist the temptation to buy the cheeeepest thing you can find, because it will probably be cast chinesium instead of real gear metal.

 

ok ive done quite a bit of research on this, Motives seem to have a pretty good reputation , but i heard they are imported gears. richmonds are noisy and are very hard so they break. strange gears are slightly noisier but overall a good gear.

i just spoke with one of the people at Randy`s Ring and Pinion he seems to think my best bet would be with a gear that is made by a company called Yukon gear. he said its an oem quality gearset without the extra $$ .

Has anyone used these gears? are they good? or are they just trying to get my $$ ? the salesperson seemed to be very honest and straightforward with me. what do u guys thnk?

 

Put the Richmond 3.73's in mine about a year ago.
Not noisy in my opinion, though I've been told that they can be.
Broken in correctly, shouldn't be an issue.
No troubles with them so far, and I'm pretty abusive.
-Rich-

 

"Richmonds are set up for drag racing " Sure, if you get the 'Pro gear' richmonds. Never seen those in a 7.5 /7.625 size. The 7.5 / 7.625 have the richmond 'Street gear' name. I've always been told the Richmond gears are cut different (straighter) and are stronger, but can make some noise. Mine are quiet and have been installed for 6 years or so. If you can deal with a little noise, get the richmonds.

 

I have Moser 4.10s. Does anyone have coments on these. Also a Strange posi unit. Its not to bad on noise at all.

 

Motives.

 

i heard that motives are imported from italy , and arent that great, anyone else hear this?

 

Hmm..... I don't rely too much on what I "hear"....

I have a set or 2 of them laying around, and I've swapped some others, don't recall any such thing. Seems like they were all made in the USA.

Still, Italy wouldn't bother me so much. India, Pakistan, Thailand, places like that, would be scary.

 

What kind of noise is everyone talking about form the Richmond gears? Everyone states they make some noise, but I've never heard or read anywhere what type of noise it makes.

Thanks,
-Mike

 

rb83l69 i was thinking the same thing , italy seems like a reputable place for gears to be made.

I ended up buying the gears and install kit from Randy`s Ring and Pinion they gave me a real sweet deal plus a warranty. i bought the Yukon Gear brand that they sell, and it has a 1 year warranty, one place reccomended U.S. Gear,and they sell U.S. Gear stuff as well so i asked about them. they told me that they are basically the same stuff, when they run out of yukon gear parts they sell the U.S. gear stuff for the Yukon price. in other words they are identical but U.S. gear you are paying for the name. I will be sure to let everyone know how this works out for me.

NitroBurn, richmonds seem to make a whining sound thats more apparent then other gears. some say its the way they are cut , some say its that the teeth are straighter. I think that most thirdgen owners could care less if the gears make a little bit more noise.

I didnt get richmonds mainly because i wanted to try something different then later on ill have something to compare the next time it comes for me to buy gears.

Matt

 

Richmonds are better for strip use mainly because of the way they are cut. You absolutly positivly should NEVER under any circumstances do the following with richmonds:
Engine/Compression brake this is when you downshift and not hit the gas to slow the car down.
Slam the gas while in reverse

Why? Richmonds are cut to be VERY strong........in the forward direction. This way of cutting has 2 side effects. 1 weaker reverse direction, and 2 noise

This is all the hype you hear in a logical manor.
Now, the real issue w/ the thirdgen rears is that &$%^*^% crush collar. Instead of using it, goto http://www.drivetraindirect.com and get the solid bearing spacer from ratec. How do I know about this? Check the tech article on building a better 10 bolt. If you don't go with the super duty posi they call for in there, doing that buildup is about as expensive as towing a car to a shop and saying fix it, only you can be sure it is done right. (I did not install my own gears either, I paied the labor for the install) A basic summury of it though is this
Cast Aluminum Rear end support cover
Zexel Torsion Differential
28 Spline Axles
Solid bearing Spacer from Ratec
Good brand Gears (richmonds in mine)
All new bearings and seals
and if you want to really bulletproof it, an axle tube brace kit (has to be welded on)
Good luck

 

richmond or GM motive gears

 

I couldn't reccomend a brand, but i would reccomend street gears. The drag race only gears may actually be softer on the surface making them less prone to cracking, but more prone to premature wear. One of the reasons that OEM gears last so long is that they are made for "street use" at the expence of the ability to absorm huge shock loads. It the car is a toy, for limited street miles but as many passes as you have time for then a race gear might be good. That is of course for rears other than the 7 1/2. I don't think any gear will get you much life from a 7 1/2 !!!

 

My gears came today, they are US gears, i got them and a complete install kit with all Timken bearings and seals for $315 including shipping. i cant wait to get this thing all together.

Matt

 

fast.... have you done a rear before? i see in the site that they come with install kits and instructions so if you havent done a rear before and you decide to do the install yourself let me know how easy or hard it was cause im plannin on doin mine myself and ive never done one before and im a lil worried bout how its gonna turn out thanks man

 

ARROWCAMARO , i have not setup a rear end before, i will eventually take the time to learn, but as for right now my machinist is going to set it up, hes giving me a real good deal on installation, and I know for a fact that he will make sure its perfect.

I know that u will need some specialty tools to setup a rear end properly, right now i cant justify the cost of the tools versus how much having him do it for me. so ill purchase these some other time.

heres some links to some pages that might help your install go smoother.

gears and install stuff

more install and gear stuff

there are also some good tech articles on this sight, that you will want to check out.

hope this helps
Matt