Gear change

lawrenr2001 · #1 Tue, February 17th, 2009, 10:57 PM

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 · #2 Tue, February 17th, 2009, 11:13 PM

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 · #3 Wed, February 18th, 2009, 06:17 AM

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 · #4 Wed, February 18th, 2009, 12:12 PM

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*** · #5 Wed, February 18th, 2009, 12:41 PM

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 · #6 Wed, February 18th, 2009, 02:38 PM

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*** · #7 Wed, February 18th, 2009, 02:44 PM

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 · #8 Wed, February 18th, 2009, 03:12 PM

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*** · #9 Wed, February 18th, 2009, 06:33 PM

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 · #10 Tue, February 24th, 2009, 11:22 AM

Welllll.... I just had a long converstation with the Ford dealerhip

(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!