smooth1990

I'm looking to swap my 3.54s out to some 4.10s In my d44. Ive read that I can and should use a "viper" ring and pinion because they are thicker than normal and I can use my 3 series carrier?

Can anyone with first hand experience give me some pointers here? Maybe a link to a good set of these "thicker " 4.10s?

Thanks a ton!

WVZR-1

There is NO "thicker" gear. The Dana Super44, 44HD or whatever you want to call it was done with a single carrier. There are Jeep Super44 applications that are different. There is two different diameters of ring gears for them though. The original production 'vette & Viper was a 216mm ring gear and later the Viper was done in a 226mm diameter. The 226mm is generally thought to be the more desirable. It is sometimes required to clearance the 'vette housing for use. That isn't an issue.

You need to be cautious of the ring gear bolt sizes though. The 'vette is 3/8 with early Viper being the same, later the Viper was increased to 7/16 hardware. There are many vendors for gear sets and as long as you know the application, the 3/8 ring gear bolt sizing, the diameter choice of the ring gear you should be able to shop wisely. Most vendors will mention 'vette/Viper in their applications. Ask very direct questions when quizzing vendors.

If your 3.54 is quiet and maybe lower mileage you might consider buying another D44 and do the build with it. The 3.54 assembled I would think has substantially more value than one suspects.

C409

............ Tom's Differentials ............ www.tomsdifferentials.com ...........

SpedRacr93

You can use 3.92 with the original carrier. That's what I built. I went from 3.33 to 3.92.

rklessdriver

Just FYI the D44HD in the C4 Corvette and Viper use the same carrier for all ring and pinion ratios from 3.08 to 4.56.

Now the D44HD carrier just so happends to share the ring gear offset specification with the old Jeep/Ford Truck Dana 44 "3.73 and down" carriers but the D44HD carrier is narrower and uses a smaller ID carrier bearing race (but bigger OD brg). It's quite alot of work to machine a regular Dana 44 spool to fit in the Corvette D44HD.

I use the Yukon gears in my stuff. Usually it's a re-boxed Dana Spicer gear set but not always. The last one I bought was dual drilled for both 3/8 and 7/16 ring gear bolts. I know in the description it says 26 spline pinion but thats just a typo on their part.... it will be the correct 29 spline pinion.

Yukon Part Number YG D44HD-411

http://www.ringpinion.com/b2c/Produc...rce=DiffWizard

Your also going to need a master install kit.

Yukon Part Number YK D44HD-VET

http://www.ringpinion.com/b2c/Produc..._Gear_and_Axle


Will

dizwiz24

Opinions are like you know, but heres mine:

Finish your build with the stock gearing, see if you can get traction to the ground (in 1st) before even thinking about doing this.

Be careful..proceed with caution! you cant listen to the heads/cams guys who say 4.10s are great (and there are some heads/cam guys that didnt think it was great). You are doing something way wilder than that.....

Ive always thought 3.73s would be the perfect compromise....

aDigitalPhantom

I asked basically the same question a while ago, because I was going to go to 4.10. Now that I have driven the car with its new engine I find I don't have enough traction with the 275 rear tires, and the 3.45s it has now. Keep what it has in there until after everything else is done.

GREGGPENN

Makes sense to me -- especially if you're setup with an M6. I didn't know (until reading a link recently on the forum) that the 6th gear is "weaker" than other gears. It's not meant to have "torque" applied, so don't do anything other than cruise.

4:10's versus 3:33's would essentially drop usability of 1st while making 6th way more "friendly". I've yet to drive a 4:10 - equipped M6 but I'd wonder if you'd break the ZF6 with the wrong move in 6th?

That aside, I know posters of 4:10 gears really LIKE what it does for the car.

I know most cars are autos AND the use of the car will largely dictate your direction. Just thought I'd add this fun-fact for a related topic.

WVZR-1

Unless you've a "purpose built" project with an engine built with a specific RPM requirement at a particular speed and distance I'd have to agree with those that suggest completing the build and assembly with what you've got and then make specific changes that might improve your enjoyment or performance after the fact. There are tire sizes along with rear axle ratio that can certainly "tweak" the satisfaction index for nearly all builds.

I also believe that with any M6 build you strive for 5th gear performance/drivability. 6th gear needs to be just something that's there and serves no practical purpose for most applications.

C409

....... Keep in mind that the smaller diameter tires on a typical C4 effectively lower the gear ratio (higher numerically) ... that said , my A4 car has 4.33s in it ... however , it doesn't see any long distance interstate use and is not a daily driver ... and I run 28" tall slicks at the track ........

5abivt

Id drop to a 3.23 with boost unless its revving really high. Let that boost build and ride that torque curve !!

whalepirot

Changed to 3.54 from 3.73 and still have traction issue, but the ZF6 made it all quite acceptable. 6th is only a choice above 60mph.