Its coming up on the time where i can afford to regear. Sitting on the stock 3:55 i believe. Truck has a 5.5 lift and 35's. shes tuned on 91 hemifever and has plenty of power but you know its take a little work to get those big meats rolling, so its time and i wanna remove a bit of stress of the tranny too, so that should help. Anyway any recommendation on brand or ratio. I was thinking 4:56 gears but im not sure if i should just go with 4:10. i don't do tons of driving on the freeway, my regular commute is all through town. but i don't wanna make my truck useless on the freeway cruising at wicked high rpms. I just wanna make it more enjoyable to drive and less lead foot. Opinions?

 

4.56 will only put you about 200 RPM higher at 65 MPH. (compared to 3.55s, and stock tire size.) You will like the perceived added power of the lower gears. Can't go wrong with 'em.

Yukon makes great gears, but, there is a price premium for that name. USA makes good gears, but, setup is critical for them to be quiet. (much less expensive.)

 

Go 4.56, DON'T FEAR THE GEAR!!!

 

ok is it necessary to do front and rear axle since i don't really use 4x4 that much. should i just do the rear or? also i have the dana 44 right?

 

Dana 44 front.

If you EVER want to use 4x4 again, you MUST also do the front axle. If you try and use 4x4 with different ratios front and rear, something WILL break, and it will be expensive to fix.

 

so the shop that usually does the work i cant do quoted me 2k to do both axles to 4:56. Does that sound right, i mean its around 800 for parts but 1200 in labor? your telling me its gonna take 12 hours to swap both axles. Or is there more parts involved, do the carriers need to be changed?

 

i mean ive seen threads where people pay half that in labor

 

That's way too much. If I remember correctly, we used to quote six hours and axle. Usually it actually took less time..... (and we would charge accordingly..... if it only took us two, we didn't charge for six.....)

For that kind of money, I think you would be able to buy all the tools, do it yourself, and still be a thousand bucks ahead.

 

Ring and pinions are the only work I pay to have done. AAM rears are a PIA to get the backlash just right. If you've never done it, it's worth it to have it done.

Ist been nine years since I had the 4.56s put in my '04. At the time, local 4x4 shop charged $600 an axle for parts and labor plus $75 for a 500 mile break in check and fluid change for both axles. So yeah nine years later you'd expect to pay more but from $1275 to $2000 is a bit much. I'd say you can probably find an experienced shop will do it in the $1600 range.

Oh, and don't do one axle unless you remove the front drive shaft. You forget and put it in 4WD and after the flatbed winches your truck you'll have to go back and get the pieces of driveshaft, transfer case and transmission up off the road...

 

yea i figured that was too much but mind you this shop does do quality work however i thought it was way too much. I was planning on doing the front and rear for sure at the same time. Any recommendations or links to parts i should buy. i think im gonna go ahead and buy the gears myself and then shop around for shops, i don't have the time or tools to gear swap.