I 'm thinking about regearing my beast and I don't weather to spend the money on a shop or do it my self, it seems like I'm need to spend about $250 to have them installed. How many have do it and do it again??

a good rule of thumb-

unless you are posting this because you are lazy-
a shop should be doing it.

gears are NOT a DIYS for the first time kind of thing

I would dive right in if I knew what I was doing with the backlash. I'm not afraid to get into it, and would REALLY like to learn how it's done, just won't go about it by myself the first time around. I'm hoping I can get one of the guys in my local club that knows how to do it to show me the ropes on the install.

- Brent

At the minimum, you will need to invest in a shop press and a dial indicator with mounts. This may influence your decision.

I agree, for the price, i'd go to the shop. Gears are something that you do NOT want to end up screwing up the install...

Good luck.

may?

I'm putting 3.73's in myself as we speak, but I'm having lots of help from people who have done it before, definatly need an airgun, new crush sleeve, something to pull the pinion bearing off so you can shim it correctly, loctite and some spray lithium grease to measure how the gears are meshed... Oh ya... and LOTS of patience...

If you don't have anyone that's done it before to help you.... Take it to a shop, trust me.

I set up the gears in my 3rd gen about 8K miles ago with no trouble yet. I have about $225 in the rear, $25 for the rear from the U Pull It complete with 3.23's, $99 for a posi from SLP, and $85 for the installation kit. It really isn't that bad if you have the tools and someone to walk you through it. How much of a PITA is it to do a rear with ABS?

I will be doing my new gears but my friends who own a shop are going to be there to help me . From helping in a gear swap it seems patience is the key to dialing it in. I can't wait.

PHP

NOT for the first timer, very small margin between "installed correctly" and "making good parts into junk"

ABS is just a exciter ring and wheel speed sensor at the end of the rotor- well as far as the rear diff is concerend.

Nothing to do with gears...


and when the bearings go, they tend to take a lot of things with them (posi, bearings etc)

I've done all my mods so far myself......except for the gears, if that tells you anything. Getting gears set up correctly is a bit of a specialized skill, if you havn't done a lot of them before odds are you're not going to set them up correctly. I just left that one to an expert

The most sensible advice is take it to a shop and let someone with experience do this install, but let me shed a different light on this subject. The situation I ran into was with all the shops where I live I only found two that would even attempt it, they were both reputable from my perspective. However the first place I went to basically put the gears in and didn't even attempt to check any settings at all, there wasn't even a shim on the pinion which would explain why the teeth were breaking off on the outside edge and it was whining like an s.o.b. as well, did I mention their install took nearly three weeks. There was more details but I'll keep it brief. The second place I tried "after I got the first place to buy me a new set of gears", Charged about double the price of the first place, took only a few hours to install and the gears still whined so I don't think they were right either but I was gonna drive it til it broke and it didn't break for the rest of the time I had the car which I traded it in for my current firebird about a year afterwards so I don't know how long they ran for but it just goes to show you that even some of the people you think are qualified to do the job may not do it right either and you may possibly end up finding the only place who can do it right is outside of your area and your gonna have to drive a good distance and pay an outrageous price to have them done right. No thanks, next time I'll take my chances on my own or I'll order a 12 bolt or a ford 9" axle assembly with the gear ratio of choice already in it because by the time you buy the gears and pay someone the price they want to do it right you'll have paid almost half of the price of one of the other two complete assemblies and it won't be nearly as durable still.

Ive done mine a couple times, but I did have all the tools there at a friends house (like Shoebox said ) and someone there that knew what they were doing. BUt like everyone else said, its not a first timer thing.....

I have access to a machine shop via a good friend, and also have all my own air tools too, so that part of it's covered.

I mess with backlash and other fine-tuned adjustments all the time on the airplanes I work on, so I'm not afraid of doing it once I learn how it's done.

- Brent