The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Help with Ring and Pinion

My mostly stock '49 half-ton is on the road now, and I'm wishing I had installed taller gears in the back end. Classic Parts advertises the 3.55 ring and pinion as a "bolt-in" assembly, but I have a few questions about the swap. 1) How is the pinion gear connected to the back end of the stock drive shaft and torque tube? What tools do I need to remove and replace it? Is this a weekend project or something bigger? Will I need to dissasemble the torque tube at the universal joint or is the whole job done at the back end? Thanks.

I would suggest you hire someone who has set up rear ends to do it for you. If you look at a maintenance manual, it shows you how to change ring gear and pinion. If I hadn't learned by watching first many years ago, I wouldn't tackle it.

The pinion gear is pinned to the propeller shaft and thanks to Keith Hardy the rear axle overhaul booklet is available online here:

http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/booklets/5212mts00.htm

I farmed out replacement of the bushings and gear setup as I found a local guy with tons of experience and the proper tools.

I did one two years ago and will be doing one in two weeks.

I had no experience or measurement-tools (dial gauges). The dial-gauge and magnetic stand is available at a reasonable cost from Harbor Freight (we checked the calibration against a Snap-On set-up). Luckily, I have a friend who has done modern rear-ends. He found the enclosed drive-shaft to be interesting but not difficult to work with. We also bought a tube of Prussian Blue Fitting Compound (to help adjust the gear alignment and shims).

We found the instructions that come with the kit to be adequate (terrible photos but OK instructions - only missing a few steps/descriptions). The Shop Manual also helped a lot.

A photo-log of an installation by Sweet was especially helpful (maybe he'll post a link to it).

Todd, in case Tiny/Sweet does not see this here is the link http://entertainment.webshots.com/album/554887855oSaqDX I agree with Tim, this is a very useful set of pictures. I plan to do this to my truck too, just a few months away yet. I think I can do it just using the info from the link but the manuals listed would be helpful too.

I wouldn't be surprised if most of the gear sets available come from Patrick's. They will sell the parts and also offer a service where you ship your pumpkin to them and the ship it back with the new gears set up.

Chuck

It was well worth the $100 I paid for a professional reaer-end guy to do mine. Everything has to be perfect and precise. Otherwise you will get a hummimg noise or worse.

Thanks for all the great information, guys. The manual and pictures are very helpful. I definitely plan to make this change... I'm just not sure how to go about it. Somewhere in this town there is a gray-haired mechanic who has done this before, but finding him might be a challenge. If I can find somebody who has done it, I like this option the best. If I ship the whole thing to Patricks, I would need to send the torque tube/ drive shaft and the rear axle assembly, right? I assume the two parts need to stay together. The 3rd option is to do it myself. I had the pumpkin assembly completely dissassembled when I did the frame off restoration. I put it back together without any issues. I've never done the pinion though, and that seems like the tricky part. The shims need to be just right or bad things happen. I guess I'll start by calling some of the mom-and-pop repair shops.