Wanna help me swap my gears?

[Jdseibe]

Hi,

I have an 83' Camaro Sports Coupe, came stock with 3.08:1 open gears in the rear, my buddy is going to sell me his posi unit. it is an Auburn Posi with Richmond Gears which will give me 3.73:1 posi.

but the problem here is, I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to the rear gears, Do I need anything else to purchase? any special tools? some ideas would be awesome.. and what would be even more awesome is if someone was willing to come and help me do this, I'd be willing to supply food and such.. eh? eh?

any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

-Jeremy

[Formula Z]

im wanting to do mine too before spring. never done them either but im willing to attempt it. if you were closer man id help you tackle it. unsure what else you may need, hopefully someone else will chime in. good luck

[s.reef]

i believe you need a puller but i too am not sure.

[ssgtgaines]

not a job for someone who doesn't know what they are doing. you have to set pinion depth, (you can usually reuse the old shim for a starting point) pinion preload, (you need and in/lb beam style torque wrench) backlash, (dial indicator) carrier preload, (you need to know what you're doing here) plus you need to check your contact pattern and know what to look for. some guys skip slot of these steps, but those are the guys who have done it enough times to know what they are looking for. If you guys try it yourselves goodluck. I'm not trying to tell you that you can't i'm just letting you know what you are in for.

[ModernMuscleHead]

Agreed

not a job for someone who doesn't know what they are doing. you have to set pinion depth, (you can usually reuse the old shim for a starting point) pinion preload, (you need and in/lb beam style torque wrench) backlash, (dial indicator) carrier preload, (you need to know what you're doing here) plus you need to check your contact pattern and know what to look for. some guys skip slot of these steps, but those are the guys who have done it enough times to know what they are looking for. If you guys try it yourselves goodluck. I'm not trying to tell you that you can't i'm just letting you know what you are in for.

I don't think its a job for a lot of back yard mechanics even. Get your preload wrong and you'll be replacing that ring and pinion in no time. I would take it to a pro.

[Jdseibe]

well the reason I'm asking, I would want to do the swap myself, then I'd have my brother check it out and make any changes before we actually run it on the car, it's just hes to busy to do the whole swap for me.

He would have all the tools we'd need, all snap on supplied tools, hes a ASE certified master mechanic, If i can at least get an idea what i'm doing or where to start, thatd be awesome.

what do you guys think a shop would charge to professionally swap the gears?

[Virtue]

well the reason I'm asking, I would want to do the swap myself, then I'd have my brother check it out and make any changes before we actually run it on the car, it's just hes to busy to do the whole swap for me.

He would have all the tools we'd need, all snap on supplied tools, hes a ASE certified master mechanic, If i can at least get an idea what i'm doing or where to start, thatd be awesome.

what do you guys think a shop would charge to professionally swap the gears?

if ur brother is ase certified why not have him do it then it doesnt take but at most a hour and a half to set up a rear end if your paceing your self.

monroe is too far or id help

your gonna need:
basic tools
a in-lb torque wrench
feeler gauge
dial indicator to check preload ,backlash and run out
gear paint to check contact pattern on the drive and coast side of your gears

[Jdseibe]

I would really like to learn how to do it myself, ya know? it's something that would be good to know how to do.

but nevermind guys, I'll just get a book or something and read up on it and have my brother look over my work i guess.

[Derek]

I would really like to learn how to do it myself, ya know? it's something that would be good to know how to do.

but nevermind guys, I'll just get a book or something and read up on it and have my brother look over my work i guess.

we are just trying to help, mess up even a little bit and your going to waste the money you had into the gears because they will whine horrible or get totally messed up. I had an ASE certified mechanic do mine on the old car, its just one of those things that is better left to the pros IMO that have the right tools and know how to use them correctly.

[Jdseibe]

I understand that, but i dont like feeling helpless when it comes to stuff, and always relying on others to do stuff for me. I would like to know how to do this, so if I need it done again in the future, I don't have to go crawling to my brother to have him do it.. or pay someone to do it for me.

[ssgtgaines]

well if you are going to do it yourself I would reccomend pulling the whole rear axle out. And build a couple of stands for it. I just welded some square tube together. this will allow you to have full access to the diff and it makes it easier to take good accurate measurements. alot of guys will do itwith the rear in the car, but first time I would remove it and actually learn the right way to do it.

[ModernMuscleHead]

I still would find someone to do it. We all like to know how to do things, but if I need a bypass surgery or something, I'm going to find a Dr who does that and only that. Cars are kinda the same way. My cousin is an ASE MASTER Tech and worked at the largest Chevy dealer in Michigan. He told me there are about ten guys in the state that can do this fast and do it right. He says you can take it to some dealers and they don't do it right. I know I had my rear pinion seal changed on a car I used to have at a licensed shop and about a month later it started to whine. My cousin said again because they probably overtightened the Pinion Nut ( didn't get the preload right ) and it was ruining my rear end. Do what you want to, I'm just saying we each have different skill sets for different reasons and this is one that could be expensive to fix if you get it wrong. Not only will it ruin the ring and pinion, it can start to wear a groove in the center section and ruin that too.

[matlt1]

Did you ever get those gears installed?

[mikek18]

And these gears run perfectly. And no you still cant buy the rear end back derek. lol

we are just trying to help, mess up even a little bit and your going to waste the money you had into the gears because they will whine horrible or get totally messed up. I had an ASE certified mechanic do mine on the old car, its just one of those things that is better left to the pros IMO that have the right tools and know how to use them correctly.

[jderry]

idk if its the same or anywhere close to the same as on a fourth gen but my father and i did mine in our garage
all we needed was a puller and a bearing installer
other than that just normal power and hand tools