has anyone installed their own gears....

I'd add that even with FRPP gears, check the last letter - if it's M, you might not get so lucky with a nearly plug-and-play situation.

Good luck.

if you have a lift and press handy, it should fly by. it usually takes me about 1hour 45 - 2hours. thats with running a wear pattern, checking backlash, all that jazz. although, it helps that ive done it about 20 times. its all in the feel, then you double check with your tools.

It is not overly difficult to do if you have access to a dial indicator, torque wrenches and a bearing seperator. To install the pinion bearing just put the bearing in the oven @200 degrees for a half an hour or so, put the factory shim off the old pinion gear onto the new pinion gear, remove the bearing from the oven and slide it down the pinion shaft.

I did it myself, and that was the first real modification I did (other than cat back). So it definitely can be done. But don't kid yourself, it's involved - especially if you haven't done much wrenching. And it definitely takes more than -standard- hand tools.

I suggest you read up on the procedure more before jumping right in. There are plenty of good writeups on this forum, and you can find links to several others. Use the search. I think MoDingo had a great write up some time ago. Read at least 2 or 3 full walk through writeups, and that will give you an idea if you want to do it yourself. (read a few because everyone leaves something out)

A few things to keep in mind. This is definitely not an hour and a half job if it's your first time. Plan on a good day. You don't need a press, there are work arounds (heating/freezing parts), and you can just take the pinion down to a shop (got mine pressed for free). You will need some specialized tools (inch pound torque wrench, dial caliper and mag base, precise caliper for measuring shims, bearing/race driver). Of course, you can use that stuff again, but when I added up all the stuff I needed, I was at or above the cost of having a shop do the work. So make a realistic list of tools you need, and keep the costs in mind.

I don't mean to scare you off, but when I read the posts above, some of them seem to make it sound like rotating tires. It's not.

Well here is my take out of all of us that have done it ourselves alot of us ended up with a "WHINE"...I did it and i was familiar with wrenching. And the problem is once you get the "WHINE" it will cost you a new set of gears and install. I say by the time you buy the tools you need your half way to paying somebody to do it....