Gearing question

I'm really new to gearing and have never done a re-gear before so its gonna be a lot of questions. I have the 8.25 rear and d30 front with 31" tires. The 3.55's are struggling around 45-50 which is where I spend most of my time. In about a year I plan on running 33's. I also do alot of trips to the mountains in the winter.
1. Should I try the 4.11's or 4.56's? or anything else you think is appropriate.
2. How hard is an install and what parts/tools do I need?
3. Where can I find the parts/gears?
4. What's the cheapest place I can find them at?
Also planned on a pair of lockers sometime soon, no money for ARB's. Whats the best plan for those.
-Thx

I also am getting ready to regear myself and I am running 33's with plans to run 35's. I have a thread going already on this matter CLICK HERE

Here's a tech article on regearing dana axles:
http://www.jpmagazine.com/howto/68221/
There are lots more out there, read all you can and search here for gear change. Sorry I don't have more links.

3.73 gears and 31x10.50R15 tires has EXACTLY the same final drive ration (speed-to-RPM) as stock tires and 3.55 gears. 4.10 strikes me as the "right" ratio for 31s, but if you plan to move up to 33s I would go to 4.56 gears.

I like Drive Train Direct as a supplier.

If you don't want (or can't afford) to go ARB, I suggest a Detroit Locker for the rear and a TrueTrac for the front. The TrueTrac is a gear-driven limited slip, so it won't muck up your steering on pavement. Technically, TrakTech only warrants it for up to 32" tires, but unless you are very heavy on the skinny pedal it should be fine with 33s.

Thanks eagle, i was thinking something similar to that so guess i have some clue what im thinkin about doin.:cheers:

I ran 4.10s with 31's for about two years and they were perfect. Now I am running 33's on they and they are still pretty good. I got my gear from drivetrain direct. It cost me about $450 and that came with front and rear gears, install kits front and rear, a new case for the front( required when going to lower gears), six quarts of gear oil(enough for two oil changes front and rear), and a spiffy set of mechanix gloves. They were running a special when I bought this stuff, don't know if it has changed or not.

Cherokee91Red said:

I'm really new to gearing and have never done a re-gear before so its gonna be a lot of questions. I have the 8.25 rear and d30 front with 31" tires. The 3.55's are struggling around 45-50 which is where I spend most of my time. In about a year I plan on running 33's. I also do alot of trips to the mountains in the winter.
1. Should I try the 4.11's or 4.56's? or anything else you think is appropriate.
2. How hard is an install and what parts/tools do I need?
3. Where can I find the parts/gears?
4. What's the cheapest place I can find them at?
Also planned on a pair of lockers sometime soon, no money for ARB's. Whats the best plan for those.
-Thx

Click to expand...

You'll like the 4.56's. I know people who have 33's and regret not going with 4.88's but they were limited by the 8.25 (yeah yeah yeah.. depending on the year of the tranny some workout better with 4.56).
For lockers try detroits. I got them front and rear and I love them! Oh... also do a search as this was just discussed within last week or so.

Eagle said:

3.73 gears and 31x10.50R15 tires has EXACTLY the same final drive ration (speed-to-RPM) as stock tires and 3.55 gears. 4.10 strikes me as the "right" ratio for 31s, but if you plan to move up to 33s I would go to 4.56 gears.

Click to expand...

Eagle you're forgetting extra drag and weight and all those goodies. The charts are good if you're height and weight and profile (for air resistance) do not change.

Eagle said:

I like Drive Train Direct as a supplier.

Click to expand...

Give business to our local guys as they can get as good of a price if not better then DTD.
Try
Dan Turner @ Loose Nuts Enterprises
or
Ryan Brown @ Rawbrown

I have convinced alot of people to go detroits front and rear, and I think everyone is happy with the setup... Remi? Rick? no reported issues of drag on the front or at least very little, since the front is "passive" and not being driven.

and I am tired of getting into the gear ratio thread.

Hasta

Kejtar said:

Eagle you're forgetting extra drag and weight and all those goodies. The charts are good if you're height and weight and profile (for air resistance) do not change.

Click to expand...

No, I'm not forgetting anything. My opinion is that 4.10s are good with 31" tires and 4.56s are good with 33s. Your mileage may vary. Also, perhaps you are forgetting -- or aren't concerned about -- the fact that with 4.88s the front pinion gets very small, small enough that many folks feel it's too small to be reliable.

Unless things have changed, Dana-Spicer would not sell 4.88s for the Dana 30 so that forced you into the aftermarket. I like Dana gears in Dana axles. If Dana doesn't want to build the geras, I'll pay attention and either run 4.56s or move to a Dana 44 front axle.

Eagle said:

Also, perhaps you are forgetting -- or aren't concerned about -- the fact that with 4.88s the front pinion gets very small, small enough that many folks feel it's too small to be reliable.

Click to expand...

Having just installed a set of 4:88s in my Dana 30, it IS true that the pinion is smaller. But with the right set-up, it certainly looks to be strong enough for 33s at least. We set the backlash on the low end of the specs so I get a good bite on the ring gear. If I was running 35s and a big V-8 with gobs of HP, the pinion size may be an issue.

Rawbrown said:

I have convinced alot of people to go detroits front and rear, and I think everyone is happy with the setup... Remi? Rick? no reported issues of drag on the front or at least very little, since the front is "passive" and not being driven.

and I am tired of getting into the gear ratio thread.

Hasta

Click to expand...

That's a good locker, but an arb is much more versatile in the front axle as long as things are working with the arb (not having a comp leak, electrical problem etc). I have a front rev dana 30 arb and a rear dana 44 detroit and love this combo. I really don't use the arb that much except for the harder stuff as a rear detroit or rear locker in general does a good job solo and then I have the arb in the front if I need it. As far as gears go with 4.88's if you can handle them. They are very deep for 31's but if you see 33's or 35's in your future you will save yourself lots of $ and time to do it once and be done with it. Don't waste $ though on the dana 35. If you have a 8.25 you can only go to 4.56 which are fine with 35's, but not great, that's what I had. Now I have a dana 44, but still the 4.56 gears, because I got a good deal on the complete axle with the detroit and gears in it, so I just bolted it into mine. Don't do 4.10's at least do 4.56 if not 4.88 depending on what axles you have.
Troy

Big Red said:

That's a good locker, but an arb is much more versatile in the front axle as long as things are working with the arb

Click to expand...

Sometimes it helps to read the question:

Cherokee91Red said:

Also planned on a pair of lockers sometime soon, no money for ARB's. Whats the best plan for those.

Click to expand...

I would find a heavy-duty drivetrain shop in your area and go through them. There's shops that specialize in JUST drivetrain in any good size city. There's three in Syracuse where I live. They can get you a great price on the gears (you can usually talk them down if you think they're high. They should want to at least match anybody's price). Ask them what they'd charge to install the gears if you brought them just the axle. Most of these places won't have a service area but it's cheaper since you just give them the axles and they just install the gears. I'd also trust them over any general garage or performance shop since gears, transfer cases and tranny's is all they deal with. Just look up "drivetrain" in the book or online and I'm sure you'll find a place. Call them all to get the best price.
just an idea.