The cheapest I would go is richmond and when I go to my gears thats what Im going with.

the difference between cheap and expensive gears is the material used, more expensive gears come with a softer(not weaker) compound that is quieter in itself and gives just a tad, cheaper gears are more rigid and have close to no give.

A cheaper gear thats to rigid is more likely to break.

However my neighbor a fully certified chevy mechanic has never seen a richmond gear break, yet has had many cars come back with stock gears destroyed, he works mostly on corvettes and camaros these days so he sees his fair share of high performance vehicles come in.

 

Nice. Richmond is the way i was thinking to go so that helps

 

As far as saying a cheaper gear is going to be louder is not entirely true. A 4.88 or 5.13 or any thing that big is going to make "some" noise. My 4.88 yukons were installed at a very reputable shop that owns a very successful race team and they have a very small whine. The only time you can hear it is with the windows up and radio off at a steady speed. The yukons are awesome for the price completeoffroad sells them for. 288 for gears and master install kits that aren't Chinese crap is a deal.

 

US Gear claims to make their gears in the US.

 

Its nice to find good quality products made here at home, but just because its made in the U.S.A. doesn't mean its great.

 

Well, at least if it's crap you have the potential to through it through their window

http://youtu.be/3QjTIm-vSKg

 

Eh, we had a 94 f350 powerstroke at work, shredded every single tooth off the ring gear one night. Wish I had pictures..

 

When you start running huge gears in small axles and the pinion gets tiny the contact are gets smaller and thus makes a weak point. I know a guy with a Toyota on 40's with 5.13's and he has shred the teeth of many a ring gear.

 

the 40s are his prob, he should maybe run 37s max on a toyota axle, 35s to be safe haha. I run my yoter w/ 5.29s and 35s and can go 60 up an incline with a gutless little 22re haha.

 

That and he's got a 205 208 doubler and those 5.13's as well it's just too much for those little gears.