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worth buying used gears?

M

moparjim1987

NAXJA Forum User
Location
pennsylvania
there is a junkyard a few miles from my dads house that has at least 3 4 cyl. xj/mj's and they are 5 spd's, which means 4.10's. they by the looks of them have quite a few miles on them and was wondering if it was worth it buying the front axles for gears to regear mine or just buy new gears? i'm kinda on a budget (read: broke) and am tryin to do this on the down low. if they are worth it, i was looking to redo the front first, but if not, just buy the rears first, and the front later. thanks for your advice. P.S. my xj is a 97 with the 4.0/aw4/231/dana 30 hp/8.25 corp. and 33's w/ 3.55's currently.
 
If you can get a deal on the whole axles, just swap the whole axle out. It is much easier. Trying to resetup old gears is a crap shoot. I've done it, but you tend to get a ton of gear whine.
 
old_man said:
If you can get a deal on the whole axles, just swap the whole axle out. It is much easier. Trying to resetup old gears is a crap shoot. I've done it, but you tend to get a ton of gear whine.
Click to expand...

x2, And as the other reply states 4.56 is definately the way to go. I just jot done setting up a set in mine a week ago and love them!
 
Beware that there is no guarantee that a 4cyl will have 4.10's or any particular gear ratio. Around here there are several that had 4.56's but many more had 3.73's. Read the tag or count the teeth to be safe.
 
I was going to do something similar for my build and I couldn't get a junk yard to sell me just gears. I agree with swapping the whole assembly if you can. While 4.10 gears may not be considered ideal, it will be a ton better than 3.55. If you're on a budget you do what you can. Check ebay, I picked up a set of used gears for my 44 for $35 shipped.
 
old_man said:
If you can get a deal on the whole axles, just swap the whole axle out. It is much easier. Trying to resetup old gears is a crap shoot. I've done it, but you tend to get a ton of gear whine.
Click to expand...

Agree. I have setup a lot of used gear sets over the years and it really is a crap shoot.

Of course, now I am so hard of hearing nothing much really bothers me.
 
old_man said:
Trying to resetup old gears is a crap shoot. I've done it, but you tend to get a ton of gear whine.
Click to expand...

If you are able to measure the backlash of the old gears before disassembly, and you set up the gears again with that same backlash you usually won't get gear whine.

That said, I would NOT set up used gears in the rear, olnly the front.
 
Gaius said:
If you are able to measure the backlash of the old gears before disassembly, and you set up the gears again with that same backlash you usually won't get gear whine.

That said, I would NOT set up used gears in the rear, olnly the front.
Click to expand...


x2, If you can messure back lash and take gear paint to get a good paturn and try to match the lash and paturn you shouldn't have a whine but no garentee. But in the front you can live with it if it does.
 
If you're trying to save money, the whole axle swap is the way to go. Unless you can set up the gear yourself, you're looking at a couple hundred per axle to have them installed. (You can't use the shim packs that came out of your current axles on the "new" gears, and can't use the shims from the "new" gears on your axles)
 
Xwhatever, get the whole axle if you can. If you were a bit closer I'd be tempted to buy the whole axle before you could get back, XJs with the 2.5 are really rare in junkyards around here and I'm looking for axles with 4.10s... :roll:
 
well, thanks for the advice guys, i would think that you know your stuff about gearing, but, to be honest, i've driven my jeep the way it is, and it doesnt feel too bad. the biggest thing i have noticed is my brakes that were bad with the 31's, completely suck now with 33's......nothing a set of 10" diplomat drums won't fix. would love to bolt on a set of liberty's, but those are like hen's teeth around here. another part to this question...is the factory style positraction worth putting in or should i just go with a lunchbox instead? if the lunchbox is deemed better, it will wait for a while till i get my winch....
 
kastein said:
Xwhatever, get the whole axle if you can. If you were a bit closer I'd be tempted to buy the whole axle before you could get back, XJs with the 2.5 are really rare in junkyards around here and I'm looking for axles with 4.10s... :roll:
Click to expand...
Damnit man, you better not steal my 4.10s.... though part of me want's to keep shopping until I find those elusive 4.56's..
 
Don't bother. I checked something like a dozen wrecker's parts search pages last night, couldn't even find a turdy-five with 4.10s in it, nevermind d30 and c8.25. Sam's doesn't have em (that much I know) and I didn't see any in Holland's pile of ~30+ XJs, Everett's site claims they also don't have any. 4.56s are gonna be like hen's teeth I think.

This is all tempting me greatly to just buy 4.10 or 4.56 gearsets and use it as a learning experience, no matter how long it takes me to get them set right.
 
I just did a search of another local place that had 3x 4.10 c8.25 axles as well as a couple d30s a couple weeks ago.. They were a bit expensive since the guy won't let people in the yard to pull for themselves, but they were there. Now there are none. I wish I jumped while they were available now.

Speaking of which, while searching search I noticed that the c8.25 is labeled as 4.10 and the d35 is labeled as 4.11 ratios. I remember that a while back while researching an 8.8 swap I also noticed that the 8.8 is listed as 4.11. That 0.01 difference shouldn't be substantial enough to cause problems particularly where 4wd will only be used off road (or in heavy snow, I have np231), right?
 
oh yeah. I forgot, Standard Auto Wreckers in Worcester has an 8.25 with 4.10s, not sure about a d30, they want $250 for the 8.25. My answer was "oh helllllllll no! I'll wait for em to show up at Sam's!"

EDIT: the .01 will not make a difference, you're right. Vehicles were equipped with the d35/d30 combo (3.54/3.55) from the factory, if you look at it, that's 0.28% difference @ stock gearing, or around one third of an inch per wheel revolution if my calculations are correct. You'll end up with more of a mismatch front/rear than that just by turning even with perfectly matched ratios.
 
Yeah, I knew about the D35/D30 combo, I'm not THAT new to the Jeep scene :D

And I figured if they did it with that combo it would be fine, not to mention the calculations. Just figured it was worth asking before I went and destroyed a T-case. I haven't been to everettes in ages, I really look forward to going one of these days.. But enough of this thread hijack.. Carry on regarding used gears :looney:
 
4.10 vs 4.11 won't make a difference.

I think buying the axles and replacing them is the easiest way to go (hence why I did it).

Even if you're going to 4.10's "for now" it may be worth it... depends on the cost. You'll already have the carrier for your 4.56 swap (unless you're going arb or similar).
 
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