Diff gear advice

[turbodragon]

Hey,

Following on from my previous post regarding the diff leaking, Holden had a look at it and it appears to be a leaking seal. Conviniently, everything is covered under warranty EXCEPT for the seal, so I was looking at about $600 to get it replaced.

Needless to say, I didn't go ahead with it and instead, looking at doing a diff gear swap since I'll be having the diff out to replace the seal anyway. BUT, I'm a bit stumped in terms of which way to go about it and was hoping to get some advice from some people who have done it.

The car in question is a 06' VE SS-V A6. Have decided on the 3.45 ratio (same as the manual SS) as the current 2.92 gears feel way too long. Also, I do a fair bit of 100km/h and 110km/h freeway driving for work so decided probably better to go with the 3.45s (unless someone can reccomend 3.7s and does heaps of highway kms?).

Anyway, here are my options and would love to get some opinions/feedback on my possible choices:

#1: Buy a complete brand new diff (eg. from Holmart) for about $1700 and pay x amount of $$ to get the old diff dropped and the new one fitted.

#2: Buy brand new diff gears (eg. from Holmart) for about $700 and pay x amount of $$ to get them fitted to my curretn diff, as well as replacing seals and any other bits needing replacing.

#3: Buy a 2nd-hand 3.45 diff from someone with a manual SS and either take the gamble of chucking it straight in or get it overhauled.serviced before getting it chucked in.


I'm leaning towards option #3 as it seems to be the most cost-effective as I see a few people selling their 3.45s when upgrading their manual SS but don't want to buy a dud. Any tips/things to look for when buying a 2nd-hand diff?

#1 and #2 would be the most peace-of-mind options but are also the moxst pricey.



Any ideas on which way I should go?

 

[scouser king]

I have 3.7's in my SS witch is an auto. On the freeway at 105kp/h you will pull 2,000 rpm
Keep an eye out on eBay, I got a set of second hand 3.7's (40,000 od k's out of a Maloo) for $400 to my door.It cost me about $600 to get them fitted,I have since had a detroit locker fitted as the limited slip diffs in the VE's are **** and don't last too long after a few good skids. As for

 

[VTSSLS1]

As said above it'll cost at least $600-700 to get the new gears installed in your diff, so would be better off spending that bit more for a complete brand new diff if that's an option. Otherwise wait for a second hand diff with the lower ratio and install that.

 

[turbodragon]

Thanks for the advice guys. Might have to bite the bullet and purcahse a brand newy, but if I was to buy a "good condition" 2nd-hand one, what sort of questions/things should I be looking out for to make sure I'm not buying someone else's problem?