Ring & pinion upgrade

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I have 150,000 miles on it And never had any problems knock on metal. It just wont quit and l really would like to do the upgrade. If possable, I was a mechanic in the service for many years. I have replaced axle bearings but have never tore into axle gearing.
 

1955moose

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Like Snag had said, if your doing yourself, school up on all the settings and setup of differential gear rear replacement. It is by far the most critical of all clearance setups. You must know 100 percent what your doing, or your rear or front differential will either make noise or fail. If you can get ready to drop in replacements that will help.


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Good info not what I wanted to hear, but what I needed to know. I do not want to be stranded on the side of the road with my better half looking at.me.
 

reece146

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You need some specialist tools and the knowledge to do a ring and pinion swap successfully.

I've done it in the past on Dana 44 axles. I haven't done it since; it's a pita if you haven't done it before. If you want good, reliable results...

I recommend paying a shop to do it properly. Ask around in your local 4x4 club, they'll know who locally does good gearing setup.

If you can find a good used front diff and rear axle already geared to 4.10 that would probably be cheaper.

Regarding the difference between 4.09 and 4.11. This kind of spread was common on the old rigs like Blazers and Ramchargers using AWD cases like the NP203. Do the math, that is a percent difference of less than 0.5%.
 

1955moose

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Good advice from Reece!


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Snag

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xx2 the shop doing the work. These Ring and pinion changes are one of the more difficult things to do on your rig IMO.
good luck
 

98eb5.4

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what about swapping out the rear end & pulling the front driveshaft?

they go for as low as a coupla hundred bux in my area
 
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Okay I want to go another direction I have a 3.31 ratio 9.75 my tag reads S930J I want to change to a 3.73 on the tag it reads S935M. What does the last letter stand for.
 

98eb5.4

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some changes i'm aware of for 9.75 axles is for 98, they went with bigger bolts & corresponding holes for trailing arm mounting

axle shafts started out 8.8 sized then ~ 98/99 got beefier (diff wheel bearings & seals, inner bore is slightly bigger)

wheel studs went from 12 to 14 mil

edit - lucked into some info, m is for 12m lugs, p are 14
"9.75" ring gear, 3.73 ratio, ID S935M (12mm lugs)
"9.75" ring gear, 3.73 ratio, ID S935P (14mm lugs)"
 
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