How much should I expect to pay for gears?

[markw]

feel free.


case deflection in the D30 is the biggest problem. its why I have a broken ARB sitting on my bench



obviously you should not go over the maximum bearing pre-load, no need to damage the case, or cause excessive bearing wear. but plenty of gear installers don't want to get out a case spreader to get the maximum pre-load.

It's hard to over preload carrier bearings. If you can pull/install the carrier without a spreader then adding .005 to each side and install it. You can still get a D30 carrier in without the case spreader. That's what heavy dead blows are for. The big problem with the D30 is housing flex. A good truss like the Artec one will help that.

http://www.ringpinion.com/technical...s//Four_Critical_Ring_and_Pinion_Settings.inc

As for price, it will depend on the area. I would say anything around $300/axle give or take is probably reasonable, not including parts.

 

[Rod Knee]

I have a hp dana 30 front and dana 44 rear, I have 3.55's now and plan to go to 4.88's I'm getting 35x12.50's soon so I need to gear for them, I plan to tow a small camp trailer so idk that 4.56's will be deep enough.

Anyway, I have auto lockers front and rear and a carrier for my dana 30 for 3.73's and up. What should I expect to pay?

One shop quoted me 1600-1700, is that average?

I just paid that amount for my regear which included top quality gears...Spicer on my D30 and Precision in my c8.25. Add the cost of my Detroit locker (rear) and trutrac (front) and I spent almost 3000$. Not cheap, but I can't afford cheap parts.

 

[jeeperjohn]

It's hard to over preload carrier bearings. If you can pull/install the carrier without a spreader then adding .005 to each side and install it. You can still get a D30 carrier in without the case spreader. That's what heavy dead blows are for. The big problem with the D30 is housing flex. A good truss like the Artec one will help that.

http://www.ringpinion.com/technical...s//Four_Critical_Ring_and_Pinion_Settings.inc

As for price, it will depend on the area. I would say anything around $300/axle give or take is probably reasonable, not including parts.

It seems you could cause faster wear of the bearings if you put too much preload on the carrier bearings but the main concern with the D30 is stretching the case so that the geometry is changed. The D30 is a fairly weak case and deflects rather easily compared to a larger diff. When I set up a D30 without a case stretcher ( I normally do not use a case stretcher on a D30 because the shims are under the bearings and do not get damaged) I set it up to where I have to use a deadblow lightly to install the carrier then I add about 3-5 thousandths to each side on final assembly.