Mines shot! Need some advice and perhaps a good place to look for one.

I've got a 89 xc 4x4 truck

 

I can buy new ring and pinion gears + bearings + seals + shipping for $300. Does that sound about right?

 

If you can set them up yourself that sounds about right, otherwise your gonna have to add another couple hundred to that and then you might as well get a bone yard third or from someone with an extra.

When i needed one i found an entire axle drum to drum for $300

 

Good time to change the ratio if you have or want to get some bigger tires.

 

I think I've got 31s or 32s on it now and it has good acceleration and pulls my skis pretty well . . .

I use the truck as a daily driver . . . would the lower gear ratio worsen gas mileange?

I think I'm going to stick with the ratio I've got for now . . . I don't use the truck for 4x4 much and couldn't justify the benifit of the extra expense of doing the front end also. I ordered the parts today and should have them on Friday. So, . . .

I ordered Amsoil synthetic - it's pricey - is it worth the extra $$?

 

Well first question is do you have an auto or standard? Next one is what is your stock ratio (that can be found on the driver's side door frame tag). Once you know what you have then you can look at what you want. For example you could pick up a good quality front 4.56 or 4.88 for less then $200 and it would be a direct drop in.

 

Standard.

Do front end dif.s cost less than rear end?

I've got 4:1 I believe. There are 41 teeth on the ring and 10 on the pinion.

 

If it were me I'd regear with 4.88 if you have true 32" tires. Most reports are that you will get better milage and way more perfromance. As well you'll lose basicly no top end speed on the feeeway. All of Toyota's engines were designed to run at a high RPM. For 31" tires I'd use 4.88s as well. That way when you need new tires you can go bigger.

Stock gearing for 31s was 4.56.

 

Do front end diffferential gears cost less than rear ends or are you talking about salvage?

 

I paid
$150 for my 4.56 set and they look brand new inside. The front doesn't see much use like the rear so its pretty common to get one that is in great shape for cheep. Check around here and the other boards in the for sale sections.

 

Thanks for all the input! I decided to move from 4:10 to 4:56. I used the 4x4 last year 2 times (when it snowed), so I don't have to change the front gears immediately.

I'm going to look around and see what I can find for front gears on here.

The rear end cost breakdown is like this:

$150 ring and pinion gears.
$90 rebuild kit which includes all new bearings, seals, some new bolts, locktite, and the front nut.
$32 non-collapsable collar kit
$29 Amsoil gear lube
$50 3 day shipping (gotta use the truck next week)
$10 2 new axle seals
-----
$371.84

Do you think I could just buy the gears for the front end without the rebuild kit or is the rebuild kit really worth the $$?

 

Just buy a complete front diff. You're gonna drop it to change the gears anyways so why not get one complete?

 

OK. How do I find out what years will fit on my truck? Obviously I need 4:56.

Thanks again! I've been looking in the for sale sections - lots of good stuff.

 

Well, I did it! It was a very enlightening experience. I bought a 12 ton bearing press because I thought it might be nice to have and I could justify the expense, but didn't think I'd use it that much on this project. WOW. I was pressing something on or off every 10 minutes. I can't imagine how you would do this if you didn't have a press.

I didn't notice much difference, but I have only driven my truck about 5 miles. I used a ton of info off of here: http://www.4wheeloffroad.com/techart...131_0201_gear/ and it was very helpful. I bought all my parts from Jeremy at JT Parts & Accessories 866-349-6801. He was very helpful and I would recommend him to anyone else doing this swap.

Thanks again to all who helped me out here!

 

I had a very small amount of oil come out of the front of the differential (not even a drop.) Anyone else experience this with this kind of swap?

Driven the truck about 50 miles. Check the diff after each drive. Usually feels warm but not too hot to touch.

 

My truck has 4.56 and Auto tranny, but i dont think it had 31's, I am planning on gettin stock later, but I am curious, do you have auto, and 22re? manual, v6?

 

It's a 22re 4cyl manual.