Anyone Do Gears/ARB on the side?

Anyone in the PDX area have experience doing Gears? I am in the last stage of building up my Junk. The last hurdle is axles. I need to put 488's in the D30 and D44 with ARB's. My Plan of record was to head down to Dan's Gears and have him set them up. At this point I am running out of money, and my kids feel like they need to eat.. wtf..
Let me know if you can help. Gladly Trade, beer, money, projectors, screens. I would like to watch it done and could help. I just don't have a press and setup bearings.

I've wondered the same thing, but end up hearing that I just need to head to Holbrook (which I've done) or another local shop to have the work done. I'm interested in doing gears and ARB's in my Jeep, but the labor cost is what's killing me. I've got a great friend that is a mechanic, does work on the side for about 1/3 normal shop rate, but he doesn't set up gears.

Gears seem to be that holy grail of automotive repair. I think its since their are such a pain the the butt to do most never bother learning how. I know in tech college we spent 1 day on gear set up and that was all text book and i think it has done more to scare me off of doing them Good luck finding someone though!!

If you find someone willing to do it on the side, ask for references. While there are probably alot of people able to set-up gears there are far fewer able to set-up ARBs properly. Even alot of shop mess up the install of ARBs. Call and ask their tech department, I am sure they will tell you the same. I have talked to one of their techs and he said almost all of ARBs failures are directly related to inproper installation. I never liked ARB due to their seemingly unrealiablity. In recent months, I know a few people who have installed ARBs and wheel hard and not had a single problem.

If you were local I'd tell you to talk to John at ACRO, they have done several with no issue. I have no idea of anyone in oregon to help you. Keep in mind, you get what you pay for. There's a reason gear installs cost so much. Good luck!

Save up a couple checks, take it to Leonard, get it done right by a pro.

I don't know of anyone in PDX that I'd trust to do it as a side job.

WheelinJR said:

Leonard,

I don't know of anyone in PDX that I'd trust to do it as a side job.

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X2 I don't have anyone besides me touch my off road Jeeps except Leonard, and the Line Up shop on Sandy blvd. And I drive from the gorge to take it to him. Never done me wrong!

rumor has it, leonard is shutting down shop soon. better get on it....

noutlawjeeper said:

If you were local I'd tell you to talk to John at ACRO, they have done several with no issue. I have no idea of anyone in oregon to help you. Keep in mind, you get what you pay for. There's a reason gear installs cost so much. Good luck!

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Doesn't John send his stuff to someone else for gears? Cause I'm pretty sure when I had my axles geared/locked at ACRO they went somewhere else.

~Scott

Muddy Beast said:

Doesn't John send his stuff to someone else for gears? Cause I'm pretty sure when I had my axles geared/locked at ACRO they went somewhere else.

~Scott

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No.

As has been said already, I'd make sure who ever does it knows what the hell they're doing, especially with the ARB. The overwhelming number of ARB failures can be traced back to the install.

-----Matt-----

Holbrook Specialties in Gladstone. Call them for pricing.

I just lost faith in a moment of weekness.... I am sooo close, but the last big chunck of gears...


I am going to stick with my original plan. I don't know if anyone else has used Dans Gears, but thats all he does is gears. Has is own shop, great guy to deal with. I am going to pull the axles and bring him just the essentials to save some cash. I should have this all buttoned up by the first week in June. Sooner if I can.

IXNAYXJ said:

No.

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Actually, the correct answer would be... sometimes. Just depends who's got what going on at the time.

Dave, I've never done them. But i'll do them for ya for free!
:jester:

if i can screw up 8 different rigs trying to learn how, maybe i'll get mine done the right way afterwords:sunshine:

Since this seems to be beaten to death I will contine with my personal experience.

I do ALL of my own work on my Jeep. the first time I set up my gears I had NO help but the shop manual, the paperwork from Randy's (where my gears came from) and what I could read up on in magazines. It took me the bulk of a weekend to do the rear and the bulk of the next weekend to do the front.

I learned alot, adjusted both the front and rear a few months later (not because they needed to be, but because I wanted to make sure I still thought they were good).

Years later I had the opportunity to work with a pro who was really impressed with my instal with no experience. By now I have assisted or done over a dozen applications.

Yet, on my last set up, I paid to have them done.

My point is only this:
1. They are not difficult if you have the right tools, take your time, be patient, and have a clean space to do it. It really isn't rocket science.
2. The ONLY reason to do them yourself is if you REALLY want to know how to do them and want the experience.
3. For the most part it pay's better to have them done.
4. I have NO experience with ARB's and installation but do understand how important the install is on these units.

Just my experience,
Michael

KnA off road in Boring is the only place to go. This guy knows more about setting up axles than anyone else in the state. I guess that he is the only shop in the US that currie enterprises will send a pumpkin to without tubes or ends welded onto it. Currie will not send out a pumpkin without tubes and ends to any other shop. He knows his shit and if you bring him the axles stripped down and empty his prices are very reasonable. The only problem is that their is always a line to get stuff done there.

Darrell is his name. 503-663-6515

jeepboy381 said:

I guess that he is the only shop in the US that currie enterprises will send a pumpkin to without tubes or ends welded onto it. Currie will not send out a pumpkin without tubes and ends to any other shop.

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Not sure if this guy is blowing smoke up your ass or if you're just misunderstanding him, but that statement is completely un-true. I've had several Currie RockJock center sections shipped directly to me, and you can walk in or call Randy's Ring & Pinion and buy Currie center sections.

John

Yeah he did not actually tell me this but two other local shops gave me the info. Maybe he is the only shop in Oregon that they will let weld on their center sections? I was working at LCNW and they wanted to piece together their own rock jock axle, they told us they would only send it to Darrell at KnA who then did all the work.

John, you must be the 2nd shop in the US:repair: that qualified.



I would like to learn to do my own gears, but tools and time are the big factor right now. NW fest is comign soon.