Total cost of differential rebuild/gear replacement

[dfw81shark]

I believe I have the total cost of my differential rebuild/gear upgrade. The work hasn't started yet, but I've got the final tally. The guy at the rebuild shop said that his one of his suppliers wouldn't recommend using their Dana44 rebuild kit with the Vette. His other supplier has a Dana44ICA kit (that they don't stock) specifically for the 80's C3s. I believe the I is for independent, so I guess this model has modified Dana44 internals, it is not a true one. The shop called me and asked me to either bring them a rebuild kit and new gears, or come pick my differential up. I ordered the kit and gears from Zip today.

Order from Zip corvettes (recommended from my talks with 81Vette):

Rebuild Kit - $134.99
3.54 Ring and Pinion - $249.99
Shipping From Zip - $23.00

Shop rebuild labor charge - $175.00

Ordered previously from Mid America (less 10% Corvette club member discount):
(2) Differential Crossmember bushings - $44.98
Lower Differential Cushion - $13.49
Upper Differential Cushion - $13.49
Shipping From Mid America - Free

Total tally - about $655. I think I have covered what I have been told to buy. The only thing that I can think of is that I have not planned on buying a new carrier. I hope the 3.54 size doesn't require one.

I've also got Hooker headers and sidepipes, a Spiral Turbo muffler, and a TRW Leaf Spring to replace my old cracked TRW spring coming. I'll save those for another thread though.

 

[Glensgages]

3.54 Ring and Pinion - $249.99

:confused

As-of August '03, POWER-TRAIN (1-631-589-7020, ask for RONNIE), on Long Island, had Dana-44 gear-sets (Precision Gear-brand), in varying ratios, for just $125 less S&H.

I've had mine in since October '03, and after 4,000 miles, no problems...

 

[dfw81shark]

:confused

As-of August '03, POWER-TRAIN (1-631-589-7020, ask for RONNIE), on Long Island, had Dana-44 gear-sets (Precision Gear-brand), in varying ratios, for just $125 less S&H.

I've had mine in since October '03, and after 4,000 miles, no problems...

Aw crap, too late now.

 

[81 Corvette]

I've got the Precision. Went thru the shop, so i got the shop mark up. I think it was about 200.

The carrier holds the 3.54. I'd still be suprised if you don't need new side yokes, but hopefully you don't.

 

[dfw81shark]

Zip didn't mention to me that the ring and pinion were on backorder. I got the rebuild kit today minus those parts, so I called and cancelled the rest. I really hate it when companies do that. I'll give Power-Train a call today.


Thanks guys,
Michael

 

[Glensgages]

dfw81shark:
When I was looking-around for ring-and-pinions, I'd heard that ZIP offered a 3.90 or 4.10 gear-set that had the proper off-set for the Series-3 Dana-44 carriers we have, so I sent them an E-mail, but got no response.....

SIX MONTHS after I had the gear-swap complete (earlier this year), someone from their company repsonded to a question I had asked in 'another' Forum about that very subject, asking what I wanted to know about the gear-sets, so I asked again, this time IN that Forum:
I am still waiting for this reply, as-well.....
:eyerole :confused

I believe I ordered my gears from POWER-TRAIN on a Tuesday:
they were in my greedy lil' hands by that Friday!

 

[81 Corvette]

I've only ordered from Zip once, but service was excellent. Same with fast corvettes and vbandp.

 

[dfw81shark]

:confused

As-of August '03, POWER-TRAIN (1-631-589-7020, ask for RONNIE), on Long Island, had Dana-44 gear-sets (Precision Gear-brand), in varying ratios, for just $125 less S&H.

I've had mine in since October '03, and after 4,000 miles, no problems...

I've got a problem. First of all, Ronnie doesn't work there anymore- I dealt with Kevin (that's not the problem). Next, they didn't have any Precision Gear brand in stock, so he offered me the Dana-branded gearset. It came with a bit more than just the ring and pinion and cost a bit more too ($160), but I went with it anyway. My rebuild guy called me today and said it doesn't fit. I haven't talked to him myself, but he invited me up to the shop to see exactly what was wrong. His message said I'd need another gearset anyway. Does anyone know what the main difference between the corvette Dana 44 and the other Dana 44's is beside the independent suspension and why the ring and pinion don't interchange? It seems to me that logically if the corvette rearend THAT much different they would have called it a Dana 45 or something beside Dana 44. We're up to a month now.. I've got a 79 Camaro in the meantime..

 

[Glensgages]

Sorry to hear of your problems.....

I was told that the Dana-44 is a very popular differential, and that it was used in both domestic and foreign cars (Jag?), and light-duty Jeeps as-well.....

Hope your troubles get resolved soon.....

 

[dfw81shark]

I got the rearend back today- with 3.54:1. Here's the deal and hopefully it can help someone in the future. As usual, this will be long.

The physical tallness of the gears (setting the ring on the table and measuring the height) is quite a bit different. With the 2.87:1, you can easily slide the center pin in with the ring gear installed. With the 3.54:1, you can't. Therefore, my rebuilder couldn't see how to put it back together, because as it comes out, the center pin pulls out, everything in the middle comes out, then you pull the unit out of the carrier and take the ring off. You'd think to install it again, you put the new ring on, set it in the carrier, then put the center pieces in, and then finally put the pin in. That wasn't going to happen, as the pin doesn't clear the 3.54 ring gear. Therefore the logical assumption is that this 3.54:1 gearset goes to some other Dana44 axle (and there are many different variations out there) and I need to get a thinner 3.54:1 or put the 2.87 back in.

First of all, if anyone is following the thread, the Power-Train folks are a very easy bunch to work with, they were very helpful and willing to help through all this. I called them, and he said he wouldn't know why it wouldn't work, as it is the same Precision/Dana branded gear that they've supposedly sold to 80-82 vette owners before, with no problem. I was talking to Kevin, and I think Ronnie did the last Dana44 Vette. He talked to his suppliers and they all shrugged their shoulders. He said he'd gladly take it back. Turns out now that is not necessary.

I then called Ikerd's hellbent on getting the proper 3.54:1 gearset. I figured for $269, there has to be something special about their 3.54:1 The guy helping me on the phone gladly opened one of his gearset packages and measured the height of the ringgear. Absolutely the same. At this point, I'm thinking I maybe have a one-off Dana44, and I struggled speaking rear-end speak to the experts for about 3-4 minutes, and he finally turned on the light bulb- you have to put the center-pin in before you bolt down the ring gear.

After work, I marched down to the rebuild shop and turn their lightbulbs on too. I guess most rearends aren't as tight working quarters as the vette, so the typical method of rebuild is how I stated above. He had to line up the ring gear, put it in the carrier, move it out of the way (we're talking about 3 inches to the opposite side), install the center pieces, put the pin in, then slide the ringgear back over and bolt it in with everything else in place. It didn't sound easy, but they got it back together, and now I've got it to install in the car today.

I know that doesn't give some people the most warm-fuzzy feeling, but I'm pretty confident in their ability otherwise, and I've got a 90-day warranty just in case. Time to get outside, thanks for the support.

 

[Glensgages]

dfw81shark:

so, the ring-pinion set from POWER-TRAIN was correct?
:confused

Keep us posted, and if you run that car at the strip, let us know how-much/if it improved the performance.

 

[dfw81shark]

dfw81shark:

so, the ring-pinion set from POWER-TRAIN was correct?
:confused

Keep us posted, and if you run that car at the strip, let us know how-much/if it improved the performance.

Yes it was.

Street Legal night is on Thursdays here, plan to be there this week pending good weather.




Michael

 

[Glensgages]

Yes it was.

Glad to hear that, and that POWER-TRAIN treated you well.....

Street Legal night is on Thursdays here, plan to be there this week pending good weather.

Great!

Did you ever run the car with the OEM gears, for some before/after comparison?

 

[81 Corvette]

run with oem gears...thats funny. I picked up about .4 seconds doing the same swap.

glad to hear you are making progress. Chalk it up to the shop having a brain fart. Since its not your DD, time isn't as critical. You'll love it once its done

 

[dfw81shark]

Did you ever run the car with the OEM gears, for some before/after comparison?

Yeah, the day I parked it I took it to the track and ran consistent ~10.1 @ 70mph in the 1/8th.

I'm also putting Hooker headers and sidepipes on before she starts again. I have the stock exhaust and manifolds already ripped off hopefully never to see use again. It would really be a pain at this stage to put them back on for a simple test. The comparison between gearing won't be 100% accurate, but hopefully it'll be close.

 

[Glensgages]

Yeah, the day I parked it I took it to the track and ran consistent ~10.1 @ 70mph in the 1/8th.

I'm guessing that to-be a very-high 15-second run (15.70s-.80s?) at approx 85-87 MPH, roughly what my '82 ran stock (15.77 @ 86).

I'm also putting Hooker headers and sidepipes on before she starts again. I have the stock exhaust and manifolds already ripped off hopefully never to see use again. It would really be a pain at this stage to put them back on for a simple test. The comparison between gearing won't be 100% accurate, but hopefully it'll be close.

... and a heckuva lot more fun!!!!!