Began by pulling out the whole rear end, and found every single bearing was shot. I guess 200k'll do that. Got the new gears in and found that the ring pin wouldn't fit. Ring was too girthy. Pulled the ring out and ground down 2 teeth on each side and it went. Oh, and another present I found was the spider gears were missin' a tooth each. Whooo another $150 lol. It was wash, rinse, repeat for the front. All in all? Totally worth it. After I break'em in real well, I wanna see what it will do with the Buick on a trailer up the hill near home. The 3.55's were painful/pitiful to say the least. I'm sure the tranny didn't like it much either. One'a those short steep ones that you stand on the gas and go 25. Next mods? Trans temp gauge (LOOOOOONNNNGGGG overdue), then train horns

 

was this your first time doing gears?
any tips ?

 

I love my 4.88's.

 

si`.

Have someone who does these things often by your side. You'll be needin them.

 

ill be ordering 4.88s next week. what brand did you get?

 

Yukon's all the way. Still breakin' mine in. Gotta lean into the throttle now for fear of snapping the axles all to ****.

 

I'm also running yukons. Completeoffroad is the cheapest around on the gear sets. I got the trac lock rebuild kit and master install kits and gears for under 650.

 

do you feel like you have enough power with 38s and 4.88s? or is it sluggish?

 

I'm only running 35's but there is plenty of power there. I'd guess it would feel about stock.

 

I used a calculator to figure rpms and such, it is a 7% increase in ratio over stock (3.55s and stock tires). The difference was night and day