Gear change

[lawrenr2001]

I am located in the Dallas/Ft Worth area of Texas and I am looking the have my truck re geared (I have 3:55LS with 35 tires and need or want 4:56s). I have called a couple of 4 wheel drive places, but, man do they want a lot of money ($1000 labor even if I provide parts) to do it. My question is, because I am new to having this done, does this seem standard or can someone steer me to a reputable shop that would be more reasonable (I'm not cheap, just poor). Any help here would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Robert

[JWBFX4]

Im not sure but I think most places around here get between 1200 and 1500 installed, with them supplying the parts.

edit: That figure is for a 4x4

[seeleyra]

I had the same issue as yourself. I purchased the gears and it still cost me a 975 to have the them put in. I will say though that the price was worth every dime!

[Grabber523]

I was quoted $1200-1400 parts and labor from a reputable 4x4 shop. However, when I had my 3.73s put in the Stang I had the dealership do it, and got the "fist of fury"...$500 just for the install, I supplied the parts, even shims!

[cleatus12r]

I have performed a lot of differential repairs and gear swaps. I will tell you that it is worth EVERY dime you spend to have someone do it....even if it costs $1000. To do it with no knowledge is asking for a repeat repair....maybe even a couple times and having to buy new parts every time. It's a labor-intensive, almost exacting science to do it RIGHT.

[lawrenr2001]

Welllll... it looks like I am gonna have to wait to get this done, maybe next year! My income tax money ain't gonna stretch that far this year (and with this economy) and I just bought a new gryphon with some new tunes (it's taken me a year to get the nerve to do that). I hope that the performance mods I have already (K&N 57 CAI, Flowmaster 44 series) along with the new programmer will be enough to compenstae for the loss of power with my gears! Thank all you guys for responding to my thread on this! Maybe some of these auto shops will start needing some business enough to lower some of thier prices (although I doubt it).....

[88Racing]

I'm with Cody on this one. Been there done it and got towed to the shop. Paid for another set of gears also. Let the experts do it so they can take the heat if something goes wrong.

Lars

[lawrenr2001]

No problem there...I will do a little shade tree mechanics (not as much as when I was teen in the 60s) from time to time, but I know when to get the best for my hard earned money. Nothing worse than a broke down truck ! I was considering getting some headers and installing those myself, but after looking over the room around my truck's engine compartment and imagining the job....I just thought...to heck with that! Too much work for too little of a performance gain!....This too will most likely wait!

[88Racing]

Hey!
We all need some advice every once in awhile. Just glad to have you here!
During these questionable times I remember this quote "If it ain't broke don't fix it, just maintain it"
Lars

[lawrenr2001]

Welllll.... I just had a long converstation with the Ford dealerhip:sigh: (Westway Ford, Irving, TX) about the gear ratio in my truck. They installed all of the lift kit, tires, wheels as package before I bought it. I asked them why they didn't change the gear ratio from 3:55Ls to one (4:10, 4:56) that would be better rated for this conversion....now here is where it gets good....the Service manager tells me that it would be against the law for them or any other shop (a violation of EPA) to change the gear ratio of a vehicle and it would also void any warranties to the drive train! Looks like my plans have been altered (I only have 27000 miles on my truck with a 60000 mile warranty)....he said that they would have to reprogram (duh!! and I didn't tell him about my gryphon...hope he doesn't belong to this forum) the truck if they did that and that would not be in the specs and against the law (EPA)....geeez...this stuff gets deep!

[JWBFX4]

Its the same way here, they will lift them up and put bigger tires under them, but will not change the gearing. The downside to it is lost performance and mpg. But in the end if you have any drivetrain problems, then they will blame it on the bigger than stock tires to get out of warranty work probably.

[lawrenr2001]

That is most likely what would happen if I went ahead with a gear change. I am definitely going to do with out a gear change until the warranty is expired. I talked with Bill today about it when I called him with my custom tune info and although a gear change would be better, it is not an essential. I am confident I can get better performance and mileage out of the gryphon ( I am already feeling some power just running canned 2). It will also save me almost $1400 (the quote on a gear change). May be I will put on some Extenda Flares from Bushwacker...what do you guys think? Black or Painted to match?

[JWBFX4]

May be I will put on some Extenda Flares from Bushwacker...what do you guys think? Black or Painted to match?

I think the PTM would look the best , but I dont think you could go wrong either way. :thumbs up yellow:

[88Racing]

Here is some food for thought.

The 3.55 gear is the fords economy gear. Its not a bad gear used in stock configuration. A little light towing or hauling stuff from here to there.

The manufactors produce this vehicle gearing(a tall gear) to get better mpg ratings. So that the epa is happy. From year to year the epa and mfgs get together and negociate a percentage for these economy vehicles of how many need to be sold. The dealers are given great incentives to sell them. They also put in teaser upgrades like a 6 disc cd instead of a single, power seat, and or cruise. Just some examples.

The more they sell of these the better incentives they get from the mfgs. So in turn if a lot of them are sold then they also get their special ordering options increased. This usually takes place in the big city markets or in high polution markets.

What I know is going on is that people who don't know of what to look for when they are buying a vehicle are not getting the full truth when an economy one is sold to them. This even gets worse in the used car market.

The only reasons I found this info out was when the original 3.08 gearing on my jeep yj was going out. Went to the local dealer and was flat out told me it was an economy jeep. This info was also verified by the owner of the car sales company I work pt for now.

Your dealer was right that is against epa law to change the gear while under warranty. That is for the dealer to do it. Now for the owner to do it ya sadly to say the dt warranty might be most likely voided. But look at Magnuson-Moss act to be sure.

The car lot owner I work for will not buy the economy vehicles for the used vehicle side of the business he has been burned to many times on tranny issues and repairs.
Hey its South Dakota if its a truck/suv it can pull a trailer, no matter what size right? Just kidding. But that's what I see alot of in public and at the dealers.

Lars