The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Ring and Pinion change-out

Is anyone able to tell me if the Ring and Pinion can be changed without any disassembly of the carrier. Differential was rebuilt just a few thousand miles ago.
1955 1st, with original rear end. Presently has a 3:90 want to go to something higher. Thanks.

You have to partially disassemble the carrier to remove the axles when you go to remove it. It is an easy job to remove the gears inside the carrier & replace them when you get ready to put the axles back in. If you can replace a ring & pinion satisfactorily you shouldn't have any trouble putting the gears back in the carrier.

George

I don’t think you can get the pinion by the carrier if left in place or for that matter the ring gear .

Not unless you're a woman who can remove her bra underneath her blouse.

Thank you Wrenchbender and Kevinski. I am no familiar with differential work and was looking for info that might help me to do this myself. Shop wants 500 in labor. Trying to do as little disassembly as possible.

I bet this bunch to walk you thru a bunch of it, if not all.

Barry with an attention to detail it is easy stuff. Take a look at my Tech Tip on the matter:

3:55 Gear Swap

Many thanks!

Barry, where is VA do you live?

Ashland.

The technical site is very good except that I have the open drive shaft. Is the rear end made the same?

If you have the open driveshaft, you might be able to just swap out the center section without messing with the ring and pinion, assuming you can find a good used pumpkin with the gear ratio that you want.

Anybody who is willing to do that job for $500.00 is either incompetent, or he's stuck somewhere in the 1970s! A fair labor price would be somewhere in the $750.00 range- - - -if you buy all the parts.
Jerry

For an experienced guy this is not really an 8-hour job but aside from the usual hand tools and a stout rattle-gun, you need a big vise, a shop press, a bunch of pinion-bearing shims, a depth micrometer, a dial indicator, an inch-pound torque wrench, a small brush, some hi-spot blue and the knowledge of what to do with them. It's not really a job for a newbie. I've done a bunch of them and consider myself lucky that only one of them howled. In my paid wrenching days, it was the senior guys with master ratings that did unit repair on the bench. The apprentices laid under the trucks and pulled the gearboxes and third members and got all dirty.

I had my gears replaced by an axle & gear shop(near me) in 2022 for $450 (just brought them the center section). I called them last month & there price is the same. They're price is of course higher if you bring the vehicle or entire rear end. They did fantastic work & removing the my center section was pretty easy. Good luck..

Thank you 1Ton tommy and Festerhairball. What center sections and what are the ratios that might be available?

as far as i know 3.38 is the only other gear set available. This guy below is a fellow stovebolter too. I'd ask him if you have specific questions.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/276824024320

If you drive in the foothills or mountains, you might want to keep you 3.90 gears in there. I know my well used 235 prefers the original gears & I'm going back to them. Good luck.

Thank you Festerhairball. Relative to finding a center section, does anyone know what I should look for (model year) in the junk yard and would that ratio necessarily be a 3:38?