Technical Who makes quality rear end gears?

Changing some stuff on my kids car and looking to go to 4.11’s for her.
It’s a GM 10 bolt. I’ve heard tale of “xxx” gears are always noisy, etc. after a weekend of setting them up (yes I’m that slow doing it) I don’t want it to sound like a gear drive filling her

I don’t mind spending $500 on a good set if that’s what it takes.

Thanks

 

What are,,,xxx gears ?

Tommy

 

Lol. I didn’t want to mis name a manufacturer and cause a stir. As an example “Zoom gears are always noisy”. I’ve just heard references in that regard-note just using Zoom as an example.

 

No gear set should make noise if they are set up properly. I have not heard any brand is necessarily inferior to another, though I've never heard of "Zoom" gears at all. That kind of generic brand is likely not on par with a top brand like Richmond or even GM. Even those name brands are nowhere near $500 for a ring and pinion set. If they were, I would take the weak 10 bolt out and put a Ford 9" in instead.

 

Any idea where GM sources gear sets from?

 

Don't know brand names but the well versed guy who set up an 8 inch 3rd member for me used gears made in Italy. Said they were very high quality. IIRC he got them from Summit but not 100% positive on Summit.

 

At one time Zoom sold a lot of gear sets,,,,,,that was back in the day though .
Some gears can be noisy,,,,,but they shouldn’t be ,,,,not if made correctly .
I’ve usually used Richmond myself,,,,,quality gears at a good price,,,,at least back then,,,,things do change sometimes though.

The bulk of the time,,,it is just improper setup .
Some guys get carried away with the settings,,,,,and can never quite get it right after that .
I have seen a few patterns shown here on the Hamb I disagreed with,,,,but others liked and thought they were perfect .
Oh well,,,,,some guys have gear issues,,,,some have bearing issues,,,,,some just have issues,,,,,LoL .

The same goes for valve lash as well,,,,LoL.

For the Chevy 10 bolt I used a few old gear sets,,,,,,I believe they were Zoom .
A 4.56 was a happening ratio back in the day ,,,,,,a 10 bolt with a pos .,,,,,,like Archie Bunker said,,,,,those were the days !

Tommy

 

I agree, I’ve set up 5 rearend s in my life, all with used OEM gears, never had a noise. But being older and lasier, I just want to order them and not have to go out hunting for them.

 

I put 3 gear sets in my Chrysler 8&3/4 and they were all noisy. Good pattern and backlash.
all new bearings and shims came from different companies.

 

mabee OEMs would have been better.

 

Got 3,73 Yukon gears in my car and they are quiet and work fine...

 

My coupe has Yukon in the 9". My truck had Pro-Gear and Richmond. I would recommend all of them.

 

Never heard of Pro-gear.
Thanks

 

I think they are defunct. They came in a yellow box... it's been 25 years though... For the money I would go Richmond. I put 100k miles on my truck after throwing those in.

 

Put a set of Auburngear 3.25 in my 9 in. and for the money have no complaints. Quiet and didn't break the bank.

 

Bought a set of 9”gears in a kit from a well known supplier and were super noisy. I checked everything again made a few changes to no avail. Replaced with a set of US gear. Quite as a mouse. You can see the lapping pattern on the teeth plus they have marking compound on about 10 teeth to reference when you do your setup. I don’t plan on using any other gears unless they go out of business.

 

Just got back from dropping off a rear end housing to the guy who set up my third member. Had to have the perches welded after relocating them. He showed me the paper work from a gear set manufacturer that had printed in red that the gear set was not built to OEM standards but to higher "racing" standards. And they could/would be noisier than stock gears. His take was for normal street OEM type gears where the way to go. For high performance/racing applications the appropriate gear sets may be noisier. Can't confirm any of this but the guy has been doing rear ends for well over 20 years so make your own conclusions.

 

I've had excellent luck with Yukons also. Absolutely no noise.

 

For my '55 Delray, I installed a 3.08 gear set from Yukon in my original Chevy third member. Quite and appeared high quality. New bearings, proper pinion depth, pattern on ring gear and backlash. Happy with the results and will buy Yukon again.

 

have been running zoom gears in an off topic drag car ( 10.80 123 )for 23 years with no problem will pull it out to reseal it this winter

 

Never heard of higher racing standards,,,,LoL,,,,,being noisier .
Sounds like a load of crap .
The racing gears I have had were 9310 nickel alloy .
Different steel,,,,but same quality standards,,,,,no more noise either .
The 9310 is essentially a softer steel and will take a greater shock before breaking.
They also wear out quicker on the street ,,,,,because they are soft .

The gear sets are run in on a lapping machine,,,,,it mates the teeth to one another .
That’s where the pinion depth measurement comes from .
Factory gears or aftermarket,,,,they all get run in,,,,,unless someone cuts an operation to save money .

Tommy

 

First place I ever got a new gear set installed in a 9" decades ago was a place called Diff Lapping Co. in the city here. They were quiet.

Just checked, they are still going.

 

The tolerance difference between an AGMA 6 and an AGMA 15 is .0025" with a diametral pitch of 8".
I would start by asking the gear manufacture to what standard are these gears built to.

 

And yes there is a variation in tooth tolerance, it is possible to sound different

 

Hey 5150 ,
What gear manufacturer was that on the paperwork,,,,I would like to know .
Almost all manufacturers will sell crap,,,if you let them .
Again,,,,I have never heard of any street gear being built to higher racing standards and it be worse quality .
It just doesn’t compute,,,,LoL !

Tommy

 

Good timing for this thread. I've been looking at the rear kits from Quick Performance, but know nothing about them. Have read a few good reviews on other sites, but would love to hear from the guys here what they think of them. This is what I have been looking at: https://www.quickperformance.com/GM-85-10-Bolt-Posi-Gears-Bearing-Kit-Package_p_20372.html. No brand listed for gear manufacturer though

 

I talked to a guy at a rear end shop a while back, and he claimed Mopar 8 3/4” rear ends always tend to be noisy no matter what. I’m not sure why.

 

I bought Strange gears last time, but that was nearly 25 years ago. they were USA made at the time. They guys told me back then that a lot of other name brand gear sets were being made in India. Don't know if that's still the case.
(BTW a set of Speed Pro pistons I bought last year had 'Made in India' in the not too fine print.)

 

When I pick up the housing in a couple of days I'll try to get a picture of the paperwork I was shown.

 

Gear quality parameters; lead, profile, flank to flank spacing, and the "grand total" of accumulated errors. The errors cause changes in angular velocity of the rotating elements. These changes in velocity. the contact impacts that occur produce the noise.

My guess if it's not made in the USA, it isn't built to AGMA standards. And the with-in AGMA there are levels of quality.