I have 325/60/r18 tires equal to 33x13.5 and i decided that regearing will probably get me more for my money then any other performance upgrade that i dont already have. I am going ot go with 4.10 gears in the the front and rear. Sorry if my questions seem stupid but im not informed in the gear world. I have the 9.75 rear and apparently all have the 8.8 front. So in order to re gear i need to buy 4.10 gears for the 9.75 rear, 4.10 gears for the 8.8 in the front. But is the master install kit really necesarry? Some places offer a mini install kit, can i get away with buying this? I dont have much money so im trying to re gear for as cheap as possible? any advice would be awesome

Thanks

 

It really depends on how many miles you have on your truck.I recently changed my gears to 4.10's.It cost me around a grand to do front and back using the install kits with all new bearings,shims,crush collar etc.

 

The 'meat' of the job is pulling it all apart, using new pinion inner bearings with correct shims, reuse the the outer bearings.
Bolting the ring gears onto the carriers.
Then doing a a tooth check with the pinions drawn up to spec turning torque.
Test the gear backlash with a dial indicator and make shim stack measurements/calculations for movement if it needs to be adjusted.
Putting the S springs back in can be a real challange.
I have a tool for this that makes the job a no brainer.
Bottom line is you need the info, a dial indicator, an inch pound beam type torque wrench, a 200 foot pound torque wrench and lots of muscle to crush the pinion sleeves, A mic or vernier caliper to measure the carrier shim stacks and extra shims to make a change if needed.
Cautuon on RATECH kits. The shims are stamped and could have burr ridges on their inner and outer edges that need to be removes for accurate stack measurements.
It's a job that needs all the work done correctly or you can end up with nioises and end up taking it all apart again to see what wasn't done right.

 

Oh god, i had no intentions at all of doing it myself. No way, i dont know enough. All i was saying is, my truck has 70,000 miles on it, and i wanted to know if i needed to go with a complete install kit when i take it to have someone do it, or if i could get away with the mini install kit.

thanks

 

glad to hear your sensible to not do it your self...call around to some shops that will do it for you. They may have a better deal on the parts to do the install. If they can't do better on price, I would get the kit with the most parts even though it costs more. It will give you piece of mind to know that the parts are new.