diff questions, relating to gear ratio's, bearings etc.

[PUSHIN]

hey guys, first of all, i'm looking to do a couple of things to my diff, i'm looking into installing a minispool & 3.45 gears. (series 1 vn v6) i'm aware of everything about the minispool and gears (unless anyone can suggest a better ratio, i just didn't wanna throw things too far out for highway use..) so basicly, i've looked into doing the gears, and have asked a few people about them, from what i've read/been told, its a bitch and personally i feel i'd be better off paying someone else to do the gears, and all of the bearings, so i called and got a qoute, $1650 shit i could buy a diff off ebay with 3.45s and a spool for under a grand. is that price accurate or was that bloke trying to do me over a bit? i've found 3.45's for $150-$200 and bearing kits for $150 odd (i'm not sure if thats all of the bearings or not though..) i just don't really understand where the extra $1000 odd is going..? basicly my question is, how much SHOULD it cost to get the 3.45s and bearings done at a shop, aswell as how hard of a task would it be to do this myself, is it worth trying? any answers much appreciated, cheers

edit; also, does anyone know roughly how much it would cost if i pulled my diff out and took it to a shop, and got the 3.45's, spool, and bearings done?

[ucwepn]

If you supply everything it should just be labour in hours, my mechanic is $70 an hour or so for labour. They often like to supply the parts as they get them for trade price and can charge you full price so thats more profit on top of the hourly rate. Just ring around and get some more quotes and ask their rate and an estimate of how many hours of labour so you can work out if you are getting ripped. I just had the bearings and pinion seals done in my LSD and it was around $670

[immortality]

sounds like he wants to do a complete overhaul which just isn't required, I don't even think that all the bearings need to be done either. but if you supply all the parts and it's only labour you should get it for considerably less.

cost me $300 for my diff guy to supply gears rebuild LSD centre and fit to diff ( a fair few years ago now). sometimes, once the seals next to the wheel bearings are disturbed they don't seal properly again so it might cost a little more to have those done at the same time.

[GTP 85]

That is rich as hell! are they supplying the gears and spool?

I'll tell you what i did.... I tracked down an open wheel diff center ( can get one from ebay, wrecker, private), this was only like 20 odd bucks. Then bought a spool off this forum, new and unused for $50, read one of the many 'How to's' on this forum for fitting a spool into the center (its piss easy). One job down for dirt cheap.

I then shopped around for vgc 3.45 gears. found a set on ebay $100 delivered. Yet another job done on the cheap...

Pulled the diff out of the car.. Took off the brakes, axles, rear cover, popped the center out and tapped the pinion gear out too (There are tutorials of how to do all of this on here just search!!), degreased the housing and washed it out minta. Threw it in the trailer and dropped it off to the diff guy with the spool and gears. Got him to fit the the gears and spool along with all new bearings. His labour was $350 all said and done!

... It requires a moderate level of mechanical skills, but i learned a lot and saved stacks. The How To's on this site helped me heaps!

[immortality]

RUF 231 is right. the actual fitting of the spool, bearings and gears is fairly simple and straight forward. the only hard part is to set up the gears properly to get the correct backlash and contact pattern.

the how to sections has threads covering most of these topics except setting the gears

[PUSHIN]

thank you very much for all the detail guys yeah i was starting to think i'd just rip my diff out, maybe rip it to pieces and then send it in to a shop with all the parts i want put in, and that price was not including the spool, that was just the gears, and all the bearings and seals and whatnot. as soon as he said that i immediately though no way, i can find a whole diff with 3.45s and a spool on ebay for $500 odd, im not paying $1650 for that, no bloody way.

[some_guy]

The cost for a 3.45:1 diff ratio upgrade is as follows:

• New 3.45:1 Diff Gears - $690
• Reconditioned Exchange LSD Centre - $525
• If not exchange add $225
• Bearings and Seals - $165
• Labour - $440

Thats what i got quoted. Comes to like $1830 all up.

Went and bought an entire rebuilt 1:3.73 LSD for $750

Deffinately listen to what RUF and Immortality said.

[PUSHIN]

some_guy thank you very much!! from what you said, i think i might just go try find a reco lsd (or spooled) diff with 3.45's, keep the one i have as a spare incase anything goes wrong i have a spare diff, or spare parts. thanks guys.

[PUSHIN]

..................