ronaldriske
Member
- Mar 25, 2004
- 34
- 1
- 9
4.30's
I was told don't fear the gear so much that I went for the 4.30's. I don't find that 1st gear take offs are too slow but If I need to get going fast I usually take off in 2nd just to avoid the extra shift. I find that I am usually in a higher gear around town. Where I used to be in 3rd I am now in 4th around town. So around town the gears make zero difference. I absolutely love the gearing though. It always seemed that the motor was bogging at 1800 while doing 70. Now it is right around 2600 and It feels so much better. It doesn't feel strained and much more responsive. Also no need to downshift to pass at highway speeds. 1st gear burnouts are just ridiculous and I don't even do them anymore. Now i will just get rolling in 1st and powershift to 2nd to roast them down the street. Something that I didn't know about 4.30's though is that the axel retaining pin will need to be notched to clear the gears. I was almost done with my installation when I found this one out and my car had to stay down another day. Another thing is that it is a major pain in the ass to do it on jackstands. A lift is almost a nessesity. The major problem with doing it on jackstands is being able to put the preload on the pinon gear. There just isn't enough room under the car to use a long enough breakover bar to put the amount of tourque nessessary. Another tip would to be to make a tool for the driveshaft flange. I used a 3ft piece of 1" angle iron. Drilled out the holes for the driveshaft bolts, and cut out a section for the pinon nut. This made it much easier to holding backup on the flange to set the preload on the pinon bearing. I was able to reuse the pinon shim. I was able to reuse the carrier shims with just swapping them to get backlash tweleve thousandths. However after about 1500 miles I noticed a howl at around 90mph and had to get a shim set to reset the backlash a little tighter. Putting the driveshaft in the same position on the flange is a good idea but may the driveshaft may need to be indexed afterwards. I noticed a good deal of vibration at highway speeds and had to index it one hole to stop the vibration. Another consideration is that now the driveshaft will be turning much faster at highway speeds. With a 3650 in 5th gear and 3.27's the drive shaft is turning 2650rpm. With 4.30's it is now spinning 3820rpm. An aluminum driveshaft will benifit you much more now. The last thing I can think of is to make sure that the splines on the pinon are free of burrs before the install. Mine came in with a couple of nicks from shipping and the flange did would bind.
Final verdict is I love the gears. 4.30's are awesome. I would do my own gears again without hesitation, but I will never do it on jackstands in my driveway again.
I was told don't fear the gear so much that I went for the 4.30's. I don't find that 1st gear take offs are too slow but If I need to get going fast I usually take off in 2nd just to avoid the extra shift. I find that I am usually in a higher gear around town. Where I used to be in 3rd I am now in 4th around town. So around town the gears make zero difference. I absolutely love the gearing though. It always seemed that the motor was bogging at 1800 while doing 70. Now it is right around 2600 and It feels so much better. It doesn't feel strained and much more responsive. Also no need to downshift to pass at highway speeds. 1st gear burnouts are just ridiculous and I don't even do them anymore. Now i will just get rolling in 1st and powershift to 2nd to roast them down the street. Something that I didn't know about 4.30's though is that the axel retaining pin will need to be notched to clear the gears. I was almost done with my installation when I found this one out and my car had to stay down another day. Another thing is that it is a major pain in the ass to do it on jackstands. A lift is almost a nessesity. The major problem with doing it on jackstands is being able to put the preload on the pinon gear. There just isn't enough room under the car to use a long enough breakover bar to put the amount of tourque nessessary. Another tip would to be to make a tool for the driveshaft flange. I used a 3ft piece of 1" angle iron. Drilled out the holes for the driveshaft bolts, and cut out a section for the pinon nut. This made it much easier to holding backup on the flange to set the preload on the pinon bearing. I was able to reuse the pinon shim. I was able to reuse the carrier shims with just swapping them to get backlash tweleve thousandths. However after about 1500 miles I noticed a howl at around 90mph and had to get a shim set to reset the backlash a little tighter. Putting the driveshaft in the same position on the flange is a good idea but may the driveshaft may need to be indexed afterwards. I noticed a good deal of vibration at highway speeds and had to index it one hole to stop the vibration. Another consideration is that now the driveshaft will be turning much faster at highway speeds. With a 3650 in 5th gear and 3.27's the drive shaft is turning 2650rpm. With 4.30's it is now spinning 3820rpm. An aluminum driveshaft will benifit you much more now. The last thing I can think of is to make sure that the splines on the pinon are free of burrs before the install. Mine came in with a couple of nicks from shipping and the flange did would bind.
Final verdict is I love the gears. 4.30's are awesome. I would do my own gears again without hesitation, but I will never do it on jackstands in my driveway again.
