I want to have 3.73 gears installed in my 95lt-1. Does anyone know of anyone in the Indianapolis or surrounding areas that might want some work? Thanks.

 

bump

 

I set up New Ring & Pinions in C4 Dana 44's & C4 Dana 36's.

I built Sammy's Dana 44.
Was mine but sold it to him.
He should be receiving it in next week or so.
Shipped to Chile, South America.
I rebuilt the 1985 C4 Dana 44 with 3.45 gears, new Timken bearings throughout, & New Factory Dana 44 clutch packs.

I am currently building Jon's 1995 C4 Dana 44.
Drag Race car.
Nitrous oxide power adder he uses too.
3.90 : 1 Yukon Gears, Timken bearings, & new Dana 44 positraction clutch packs.
Finish it in the next week & post pictures here on C4 tech on the thread I started a few weeks ago.

Stand behind my work if you follow all my parts & usage recommendations.
But if You feed 1,000 + Horsepower into a C4 dana 44 or c4 dana 36,
It will blow up I can guarentee that.
Too much aluminum present.
Go straight axle rear diff.
& 4 link rear.

I am going straight axle & 4- link in my '87 Vert.
1957 Pontiac Rear & Competition Engineering Pro Magnum Chromemoly 4- Link suspension.
Drag race & will be street driven also.
To be completed.
Winter project of mine.

Just got done being punished for being bad on c4 again.
Back on after 1 week of No C4.
They locked me up in jail again............

I helped a few guys that emailed me while I was gone from C4.

1 guy came to my house & I worked on his C4.

Brian R.

 

I recommend going to your local machine shops or track and ask around to find someone with a good reputation. Also check local forums as a last resort. There is nothing magic to setting up a rear end, although some would have you think there is.

 

Agree.

Did all the rear gears when I worked in the Chicago area at a dealer & for many of the local straight line & oval guys including Franklin & Halibrand quick change rears.

Would have volunteered for Motor City Dave but the Chattanooga area where I now reside is a long way from Indy.

Maybe Brian can set it up, IIRC he is near Chi town.

 

Thanks guys, If Brian is interestd Chi town would be a nice road trip. How can i get ahold of him?

 

if your mechanically inclined at all ,rear end gears are not the great mystery everyone thinks. a dial indicater and an inch pound and a foot pound torque wrench are the only special tools you need.watch a few youtube videos and read a couple articles, hell i think a chilton even tells you how.if you want to make it even easier,pull the rearend and suspension out,replace the worn out bushing,the half shaft u-joints.install the gears.now the back end will hold up to the new found power and torque that the gears will be putting to the ground if i don't mention a press for the new bearings someone will bring it up ::yesnod ::yesnod :

 

Everything is machined with a production tolerance.
Rear End Diff housings,
Posi traction carriers,
Tapered roller bearings & races,
Ring & pinion gearsets too.

Production tolerance variances stack up.

Guestimating setting them up will get you in trouble sooner or later.

I don't have enough fingers & toes to count with where I have seen GM mechanics just slam a rear end together with a 1/2 " inch air impact wrench, reuse all the same shims,
Left the their torque wrench in the tool box,
or did not own a torque wrench.
Never used a dial indicator to check backlash.
Never knew there was a Kent Moore Pinion Depth Gauge stored away in the tool room.
Never did a gear pattern test to verify final results.
Sure they made Flat Rate in 1 hour rebuilding that rear diff (GM paid flat rate time was 6.5 hours start to finish.)
Guess What ??????????

Every single 1 of those passenger car & pickup hypoid ring & pinion rear differentials came back.
All Howling like a sick & dieing animal.
Owners mad & furious too.

I had to do the rework & rebuild the 2nd time around where the other guy(s) Ficked Up again.

More than once I told the GM service writers............

" Fick that flat rate....
You want this rearend built & done right by myself or not ????
You pay me how ever long it takes me to get it done my way......
or Fick You & I am not going to rebuild it..............
You damn well I am the only guy here that knows how to build it correct & have it last for the next 20 years..........."

Not a single rear diff has ever come back that I have rebuilt & blueprinted with my own 2 hands.
Only for a gear change.
Owners switched to Centrifugal blower, Turbos, Or more nitrous oxide power adder.

Knowledge, skill, correct tools, experience, and dedication to get the job done right no matter what goes a long ways when rebuilding & setting up new hypoid ring & pinion gearsets for high performance street & full race use.

Or you can just get the air impact out & slam your dana 44 or dana 36 together like most do.
When it fails or howls like a Banshee down the road driving.
It's not my doing or fault.

Brian R.

 

Also,

Once a Hypoid Ring & Pinion gearset is set up wrong & howls on the test drive..........

Its permanent lapped in 1 mile of driving.
The gearset is destroyed.
Going back in and making corrections is futile.

You guys can try & take that Howling out.
You will see that I am right after the 10th try or more resetting up the ring & pinion.

Sreet driven gearsets must be set up with a tolerance of + - .001 from nominal settings.

Racing use dictates less than + - .0005" from nominal pinion depth.
Back lash settings I personally use I keep to myself.
Different settings for different race applications & for different style rear diffs.
Like Eaton 8-7/8 " , Ford 9", Dana 60, C4 Corvette, ect.

 

I wouldn't recommend telling someone to go ahead and set up their gears themselves if they have never done them. They really are kind of tricky. And getting a good pattern and knowing exactly what to do if the pattern is off can be easier said than done. The shims for the pinion set pinion depth and you also have to set pinion bearing preload with a crush sleeve or shims. The carrier bearings set backlash and bearing preload. Too much preload and you will ruin the bearings. Not enough and you have a vibration. You should really have a case stretcher for D44's and D36's, how many people have those kicking around? There are too many things that can go wrong for somebody with no experiance, and you will probably ruin the ring and pinion if the pattern isn't perfect. I would say the odds of somebody setting up their own gears and getting everything perfect the first time is very slim. And if it's not perfect, you get to tear it back out of the car and start over and hope the ring and pinion is still good.

 

What exactly is tricky about following the procedures in a service manual? The manual walks you through the setup and lists all the specs. If someone is capable and wants to invest in the proper tools, there is no reason they cannot set up a rear end.

 

I guess it depends on how much automotive experiance you have. Reading a book about it and actually doing it can be two different things. If the pattern isn't perfect, there is a good chance the gears will be noisey. Sometimes the actual patterns on the gears don't exactly match the books. If you want to set up your own gears go for it. I wouldn't recommend it for everybody.

 

Brian,

Where do you shop for "a hat""? I've got some friends that I need to shop for and I just can't find the fit for them. There not nearly as "big-headed" likely as yourself but if there's a "fit" for you I'm guessing they'd have the "right stuff"?

Regarding the shop builds:

ALL CAME BACK? I doubt it!

Regarding your work:

NOT A SINGLE COME-BACK? I doubt that also!

YOU'RE THE ONLY GUY WHO CAN? In maybe your eyes.

THE 20 year "WARRANTY"? How much?

I believe I read a build you did recently where you used up three (I believe) vendors just to acquire parts. As talented as you imply I would think you'd have had your vendors lined up years ago. You mention you "build them all" but I guess have a tough time chasing parts?

I don't doubt that you likely do a "quality" build but to imply that "ONLY YOU" can and that you DO is a "STRETCH"! Quality builds are done all day, every day and the builder doesn't spend the rest of the day trying to convince me that "he's the only"!

There's absolutly NO REASON that a reasonably intelligent person with desire and a mechanical aptitude can't do his own build. Does he need to ask questions? Sure! Will he ruin $60 worth of bearings, a couple pinion nuts and a couple crush sleeves? Probably and I would expect maybe more. I generally offer two sleeves and two nuts, most are takers!

Would I recommend a "personal build"? I believe so if the person understands what he's getting into. It's just a "rear gear"!! Did I mention - It's just a "rear gear"!!

 

I love it when people say this. A lot of what I've learned came from a book and my willingness to do it myself.

Everything has a spec and if its assembled to those specs, it will work as it should. If you try to cheat or ignore that, then you're going to have trouble.

 

Just go for it then Dave.

Rebuild & setup your own Ring & Pinion Gearset in your C4.

I am not stopping You.

I left plenty of decent pictures for all in Sammy's Dana 44 3.45 gear buildup.

But I left out all details of my own procedure of shimming exact.

Not all my own techniques are listed in the GM C4 Corvette service manual.
Maybe only 1/10 th.

Definite not on the internet anywhere.

Its all in my head till my boy Nicholas turns of age to teach him.

Brian R.

 

Next 7 second drag race car to come along,

I will recommend You then for a ring & pinion build.

You build Yours.

I will build mine.

We will run them both under the same car on 10 full power passes each.

See how yours hold up & then mine.

Its a fair contest don't You agree ?

BR

 

Somtimes its just better to pay a pro for certain things.
Cant learn someone experience and what to do in certain circumstances you run into.

IMO rearends paint and upholstery are a few of them.

 

I am not sweating it tonight Jim.

These C4 Dana rears do cost $$ to build up in parts alone.

My labor is fair.

If they can do better work, then all the power to them.

Real test is on 1st test drive.

(The drag racers always take me for a spin.
Often over 100 + on street.)

Then launch it hard on the street & racetrack.

If the rear diff breaks........not my fault, I did not build it.
they only have themselves to blame.

I have been building street & trace rear diffs since 1987.

How long has everyone else on C4 ?

I have rebuilt over 200 drag race rears in my time.

Another 300 + on the street & daily drivers.


By the way Jim,

You are my favorite Mechanic here on C4.
A long time ASE MASTER MECHANIC like myself.

Brian R.

 

You're definitely not stopping me. I've read your posts since you joined the forum and you're probably the last person I would take advice from. You can keep your imaginary secrets. I work and live with facts, not myths and make believe.

 

That is the Spirit Dave,

You have just the right attitude to pull it off.

You are welcome to come to my house in Illinois anytime.

1 other C4 forum member was here at my house this past weekend.

I worked on his C4.
Charging system problem.

I installed 1 of my own rebuilt Delco CS130 series alternators.
Pretty Cool Young man.

Airforce Man.
Avionics specialist he is too.

I had alot of fun meeting him & helping him out on his TPI C4.

BR