Drivetrain shop in norcal

srmitchell

srmitchell

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Mckinleyville (Humboldt) CA
Hey guys. I know this has been covered, but who does the best axle work in the bay area?

I got my 8.25 from a member on here, it's geared to 4.56, and I think it was done by south bay driveline. He didn't DD his jeep, so the gear whine wasn't a problem. But now, after about 3000 miles, it's awful. I've never heard an axle so loud. And it seems to be getting worse.

I suctioned out the gear oil, and replaced it with a thicker 85w140, and it didn't help. The fluid was clean.

I think it needs new gears, the backlash might be too tight. Live and learn.
 
Hmm, Im not sure if it was southbay or rear end specialties.

Jimbo, how much did they charge to do your d30?
 
Sean,

Out of curiousity, since you're up here in Humboldt for now, why are you taking your axle down to the Bay area? Rocky's set up my 8.25 when I had it it....he did a pretty good job on it at a reasonable price.....
 
Rear End Specialties did it for $225 but like I said, I strongly urge you against going there. I haven't actually gone to MS Gear but I have friends that have referred me. They quoted me $250 for the install and I wish I could have just waited the extra day for them to do it
 
X2 on South bay drive line, Steve is very good. He did my rear drive line on my 85 Toyota p/u when i lived in San Jose back in the day.
 
I'd check and make sure the pinion is tight, if thats loose for any reason then you will get noise but it could also damage things. I've seen that happen a few times. Was everything replaced at the same time? Gears, install kit, etc...I've got after market in all three of my cars and no noise problems. If everything was done then there should be some kind of warranty unless it was done a long time ago. I have mixed feelings about Rear End Specialties, I never had a problem with cars they did for my shop but I have heard from lots of sources they arent the best. I set all my own gears and with a few special tools and some know how and attention to detail you should be able to find a decent shop whos up to the task. I say look around, Rear End S. isnt all its cracked up to be in my opinion.
 
Sean,

I have talked to more than a few people who referred me to Ed's custom 4wd down in eureka, i have no first hand experience with them, other than talking to him quite extensively about my trd e locker 3rd member. I believe fat rat down in fortuna does gears and so does rocky's as was mentioned by Ivan.


Mike
 
Don't know the problem you're having for sure, but I had a similar situation. Had the 8.25 rebuilt by a supposedly reputable shop. Had a bit if whine, but in less than 2000 miles, the thing grenaded. Turned out they used the crush sleeve that came with the gear set instead of replacing with a solid washer. The crush got used three times as they took off the yoke three times. Either use a solid washer, cut to the size the sleeve crushes, or use a Mopar crush sleeve.

In our case, the crush sleeve continued to loosen, and the pinion tilted, breaking off teeth on the ring gear and destroying the pinion bearing. So if yours is getting a lot noisier, I'd stop driving it at all until you can get it checked. If, of course, this is the problem you're having. Just thought I'd throw this out there.

David Bricker / SYR
 
drive line specialist in san leandro was pretty good. 160 to have em shorten the drive shaft and balance it and put in two new u joints also. I brought him the drive shaft late one day and got it back before 4 the next day. Shorten and balance was 120 and the u joints were 20 each. He even threw some paint on my rusted as hell drive shaft so it looked brand new.

whoops I was reading a diffrent thread and replyed to this one. but maybe it will help.
Im a former Humboldt resident so go easy on me.
 
Last edited:
if I were to pay someone in the Sacramento area to do gears, it'd be River City Differentials...

the guy over there knows his stuff...
 
David_Bricker said:
Don't know the problem you're having for sure, but I had a similar situation. Had the 8.25 rebuilt by a supposedly reputable shop. Had a bit if whine, but in less than 2000 miles, the thing grenaded. Turned out they used the crush sleeve that came with the gear set instead of replacing with a solid washer. The crush got used three times as they took off the yoke three times. Either use a solid washer, cut to the size the sleeve crushes, or use a Mopar crush sleeve.

In our case, the crush sleeve continued to loosen, and the pinion tilted, breaking off teeth on the ring gear and destroying the pinion bearing. So if yours is getting a lot noisier, I'd stop driving it at all until you can get it checked. If, of course, this is the problem you're having. Just thought I'd throw this out there.

David Bricker / SYR
Click to expand...

Yep! That will do it.
 
srmitchell said:
Hey Ivan, just talked to Rockys, he wants 800-900 bucks with gears.

WTF
Click to expand...

His labor prices must have gone up.... I regeared mine back in 2002 at $250 an axle, plus gears. So that would have come out to about $500 total per axle.

Back then I also checked Antich Automotive in Eureka because I heard a lot of good things about them. They wanted $1100 an axle...no gears.....yeah, right.

Did you call some of the other shops Mike mentioned just to compare against Rocky's prices
 
I dropped nearly $1500 for my rebuild (the one that blew up) when it was all done. I supplied the locker, they supplied labor, gears, master kit, new yoke and u-joint. They were the only game in town, and obviously not a very good one. I think it should have been closer to $1000.

Just be sure to use a solid spacer or Mopar crush sleeve. Don't let them use an impact wrench to tighten the yoke.

David Bricker / SYR
 
Ivan- Yeah, thats pretty lame. I have called a few places in the bay too, and they seem to be much cheaper.

I was hoping to hold off long enough so I could buy an ARB, but its just too much money.
 
If it was me I would hold off till you get all the money for all the parts you want, not much fun to pay for it twice.
 
I agree. I'll try to wait.

Im going to pull the cover this week, and see if its carnage, or just noise.
 
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