Are aftermarket gears such as Richmond any stronger than the stock gears GM put in the rear ends?

 

Not really.

The Richmond drag-race gears are made from metal that's "tougher"; not as hard, but more flexible, therefore more able to absorb shock loads without shattering. At the same time, MUCH less able to absorb normal street wear. Ya give up one thing to get the other.

But the gears aren't the weak point of a 10-bolt anyway. Wrong line of inquiry.

 

I just broke the teeth off my stock 3.23 pinion driving on the street with street tires and a 5speed.

 

No big surprise; but that's not because of the gear.

It's because EVERYTHING in that rear is so small. Starts with the housing; it flexes enough to allow the gears to misalign. Just simply not enough metal to hold everything in place. (a "girdle" type cover makes a HUUUUJJJJE improvement by simply preventing the axle housings from trying to spread the case open during acceleration) Then there's the small diameter of everything; if you can imagine trying to torque head bolts with a ¼" ratchet, and think about how much force you'd be putting on the palm of your hand, that's EXACTLY what small diameter parts do to each other under load. Then there's the issue of worn carrier bearings, further allowing misalignment; just a few .001"s of that is DEATH to gears of any kind.

"Stronger" gears won't fix any of that.

 

Sometimes gears break. My brother broke the pinion head completely off in a stock S10 truck. After market gears may be slightly stronger, but OEM gears are usually a lot quieter. Lately after market gears are getting worse about making noise. The quality seems to be going down.

 

Would you say they're doing lackluster machining?

I thought the 2-cut vs. 5-cut information on p 31 was interesting:

http://web.archive.org/web/201011251...ioncatalog.pdf

 

I think competition from import gears has caused the quality overall to suffer. Cutting cost has also cut quality in my opinion. AAM gears are high quality, and high priced.

 

I have been wondering this. I have Richmond, and they are loud as hell. but only when I keep it at a steady speed. If coasting or accelerating they are quiet. I was 100% sure I set it up correct with the backlash and ect.

 

Ive heard they are notorious for roaring noise. Lots of people I know say to try to use stock GM gears because they are smoother and really not a lot of difference in strength between the aftermarket stuff. Ive bought several sets of used GM gears and they have all been in excellent shape. Ive also seen some with chipped and busted teeth mainly out of manual transmission cars.