What are my Stock rearend Gears?????

[crazypete]

I got lucky installing my 3.73 FMS gears myself. Sure beats paying $400. I'm going to add fuel to the rumor that FMS gears are easy to install since I did no measurement and set up the pinion depth by trial and error and used existing side shims. It can be done and it can be done right but it takes one or two tries before the gears dont whine. I used the contact pattern grease test after putting the gears together, took it for a drive, heard some grinding on decel, tighened the pinion nut till there was a tiny bit of drag on it, took it for another drive and viola! Not a peep. I've been driving around on these gears for 2 years now, long hauls to maine and everything. I even (GASP!) reused the crush sleeve (hell, it got crushed just the right amount the first time) since I didnt have any way of getting the new one started.

All I'm saying is it is possible. It is your choice, convenience vs saving money. I've had many horror stories of people taking their ride to a "shop" and ending up with whining gears and the like. Around my town, no one has any idea how to do gear swaps (at least around the belmont area). The closest I got was a place that sets up commercial vehicles (dump trucks!) : they wanted me to detach the axle and bring it in and they'd do it for $350! . Bunk that! So I did it myself and got lucky.

Try your own install. If you dont succeed, take it to the shop. If you got it even close, you wont tear your gears up (too much) . Plus, it will cost you a lot less for an adjustment than to have them do the whole procedure.