found a shop that will do the swap for $650

i can bring my own parts


so far i have:

richmond 3.75 ring and pinion

yet to buy:

45t driven gear lt blue
15t drive gear grey
vss #25007308

u joints --any suggestions?

anything else i should get?

Have them do the shaft seals while they are in there. For u-joints (is that included in the 650? - it's not part of the ring/pinion) I recommend getting sealed units. If you look under my post for common c4 part #s they are listed.

Matthew

$650 for just labor?!?

While it is a apart prob worthwhile putting new Posi clutches in

http://www.justdifferentials.com/inde ... uct_info&products_id=1773

Quote:

How many miles on the rear?

Your going to need an intall kit for the gear.

http://www.ringpinion.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProdID=3147

This kit has every shim, every brg and every seal in the rear end.

Like others said it's a good idea to change the sub axel brgs and seals now (which are in that kit) and maybe the trac lok clutches.

http://www.ringpinion.com/PartsList.a ... ypeID=3&DiffID=14&CatID=9

As for U-Joints. I put the Neapco Brut Force U Joints in my 92 and after 3 trips to the track 3 out 4 of them are broken along with my half shafts. Keep in mind that I have a 6spd, MT drag radials and more than enough HP to break anything. What I break at the race track has no releation to a regular street car.

We put them in my buddy Noland's 96 383 LT4 6spd a few years ago and they are doing great - but he only runs real street tires and does not track the car. They are solid and easy to get. You can buy them at Advance Auto and they have a lifetime warantee.

I recently bought the Dana Spicer solid U Joints to fix my 92. You have to order them off the internetz and the people who say they stock them turn around and send you an email later that day that they are out of stock and a week away... They are suposed to be the best... We'll see.

http://www.dennysdriveshaft.com/p443_ ... 0_series_rebuild_kit.html

I hope this stuff helps you out.
Will

thanks for the quick replies!


yes, 650 for just the labor-- too much? the place specializes in 4wd and off road

90000 miles on the rear (i assume, bought the car used)

2 quotes I got on mine were $250-300 and I bring the diff and new gears in, they provided the rebuild kit. You could probably do a little better, but if you trust them, why not.

It it is really f'n easy to drop the diff out yourself. The specialized labor is only in setting up the gears. You don't even have to pull the tires off actually.




Ok honestly, I justed wanted an excuse to post this pic again.

Quote:

Enormously too much.

My rear end, with parts, labor, shipping for complete rebuild and gear change from zip corvette was around $800.

Locally at the time it would have been $600+/- parts+labor. That's not including r/r the rear.

Can't be more expensive in Toledo than Pittsburgh. And I bet today I could shave $100 off the labor because people are hurting for work.

Another thought - low mileage 2.59 rears show up all the time and people can't give them away. If labor is so high where you are I'd buy one of those and just change the gears to save some on labor.

called another shop reccomended by my mechanic at work-- same price, 650 + parts, which they have or can get from the dealership.

im thinking about taking out the diff. and just brining it to them and have them install the ring and pinion to save money.

how hard is it to do?
ill have to change the drive gear, so ill have to remove the tail housing-- how hard is that?

Quote:

Removing and replacing the Diff is not that big of a job. I changed mine in my driveway (when I broke it of course)with the car on jackstands using only hand tools (which really sucks). Took me a couple of hours to swap the center sections.

You'll have to drop the cat back exhaust, drop the C Beam, disconnect the drive shaft, drop the lower camber arm suspension brackets from the center section, disconnect the rear tie rod bracket from the diff cover, disconnect the half shafts from the inner stub axels, remove the 2 bat wing bolts and lower the Diff centersection. I think I got everything...

Once you have the C Beam and drive shaft out I'm pretty sure it's only 4 bolts on a 700R4 to remove the tail housing. You may need some silicone or a new gasket to put it back on thou.
Will

Read my post here on what to expect when removing the differential and tailshaft housing:

http://www.corvette-guru.com/modules/ ... t_id=83833#forumpost83833

I did it all with hand tools. Didn't have an air compressor at the time. Wasn't a terrible job, but air tools make it much faster.

Matthew

it looks like a project i can handle.

will i need any special tools, like socket extensions, etc.?

don't have air tools, but thats ok.

i think i might get the black box speedo correcter to save time.

a new vss is like 70-90,gears-25,clip-5

black box -140, so im reaaly only saving like $30-$50

that way i wont have to pull the tailhousing, c beam, driveshaft etc, just the diff.


anyone use a black box (electronic ratio adapter)before?

You don't really have to drop the C-beam. Just lower the rear end with c-beam and driveshaft in place.... once it is low enough you can just unbolt the rear 2 bolts on the cbeam and undo the driveshaft. The front of the cbeam is a bitch to remove with the rear end in place, so leave it alone.

Are you sure you need a new VSS? You can install the VSS upside down to use the smaller plastic gears. It has an offset in the shaft that effects gear mesh. The retainer clip won't fit quite right, but you can just bend it. And you may not need to replace the gear in the transmission, check my website. It might end up being a $6 fix for you. I wouldn't buy the black box even if it was the same price as the hard parts.

http://webpages.charter.net/khasting/techinfo/speedocalc.html

Lemme know if you have any questions

i wish i didn't have to, but i need to replace the 17t with a 15t gray drive gear. i suppose i can reuse the vss-it still works fine, its just broken where the pigtail connects. the connector is held on by a zip tie.

and i used your website to find out what gears to buy--thanks!

its probably something ill start in about a month, just trying to get all the parts ready.

i think ill do everything but the actual gear swap-ill just take the diff to the shop for that.

if its just unbolting stuff i think i can handle it.

Excellent! Keep us posted on the progress. And many of us have done the pumpkin swap if you have any questions.

Matthew