Welcome to the Corvette Forums at the Corvette Action Center!

4:11 carrier larger?

Paranoid

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 13, 2000
Messages
422
Location
Western PA
Corvette
1970 454 4sp Coupe
Someone told me today that 4:11 gears and higher require a larger differential housing and that these larger one's are not too common.

4:11 gear set won't fit in a 3.73 and lower housing??

Anyone hear of this ?;shrug
 
Paranoid said:
4:11 gear set won't fit in a 3.73 and lower housing??

Anyone hear of this ?;shrug
I am 99% sure this is correct:
as the pinion gets smaller in-diameter, the ring gear, and the flange it bolts-to, needs to be 'closer' to the actual CL of the car.....

in some of the other GM rear-ends (10-bolt & 12-bolt ), you can run a series-4 gear in a series-3 carrier if a 'thick' ring-gear is offered, or by using a 'spacer' for the ring-gear:
a 'thick' gear is preferable to a 'spacer'.....
 
Paranoid said:
Someone told me today that 4:11 gears and higher require a larger differential housing and that these larger one's are not too common.

4:11 gear set won't fit in a 3.73 and lower housing??

Anyone hear of this ?;shrug

Not a larger differential, just a different carrier. When I changed my original 4:11s out for a set of cruising-friendly 3:36s I had to buy a new carrier. From what I remember, one carrier is a series 3 and the other a series 4. I have no recollection of the difference but there is one. My differential housing is the original one and the only way to tell that 4:11s no longer reside there is to drive the car.

Gary
72 LT1
 
Grab a handy SUMMIT catalog, and look under GM 12-BOLT "C" axle:

it lists 2 different gear-sets for ratios of 3.73, 4.10, 4.56, and 4.88..... ones with astericks are for series-4 carriers, while 'plain' part-numbers are for series-3 carriers.
 
There are now gear sets {4`s} that can be installed in your original 3 series carrier with out the need of buying a special 4 series carrier. These were not available a few years ago and or current owners may just not be aware of these sets. They are on the market however. ;)
 
Teh best 4.11 gear set for a 3series is made by Tom's and were back ordered the last I checked, along wiht 373's. The 4 series flange is thicker then the 3 series. Check the clutches and spiders inside too, 10-18's NFG, you want 10-17's. Solid steel clutches over fiber or snowflakes. The new eatons have poor internal parts but very good cases.
 

Corvette Forums

Not a member of the Corvette Action Center?  Join now!  It's free!

Help support the Corvette Action Center!

Supporting Vendors

Dealers:

MacMulkin Chevrolet - The Second Largest Corvette Dealer in the Country!

Advertise with the Corvette Action Center!

Double Your Chances!

Our Partners

Back
Top Bottom