Anyone ever locked or regeared a 3rd gen themselves? What's all involved? I know Steve had his rig regeared and it sounded pretty involved.

As some of you may know, a buddy and I are playing around with the idea of opening a 4x4 shop (see this thread). One of the big unknowns right now is how successful we would be if we couldn't install lockers or regear rigs for our clients. So obviously, we need a guinnea pig vehicle - either my 4Runner or his Cherokee.

Neither of us have every done anything like this, but we can generally figure out how to take things apart and put them back together again. We've swapped out axles, installed lifts/lowering kits, etc., but never gotten into a dif.

So, how big of a deal is it to regear or add a locker (Detroit or ARB if we use my rig)?

~~~EDIT~~~
I just found a couple of tech articles on the 4x4wire site about installing ARB lockers (front and rear), so I have something to use as a guide.

The article for the rear locker shows that I would need a shop press to press the bearings into place. Sine I don't yet have a press, I guess that would be a problem. Crap.

It certainly sounds like this might be a bit beyond my ability.

 

It's common out here to pull the 3rd members and take just that in for the setup. From what everyone tells me you need alot of experience to set gears up that last, there are alot of stories of blown up sets.

Randy's Ring and Pinion will ship you fully set up 3rd's with what ever you want. If you guys can pull the 3rd member, you could swap one Randy's sent you and return the core.

You need a special allen socket to get the front diff out of the 3rd gen and it is a great deal of work.

 

Yea... after reading the tech articles on 4x4wire, using Randy's prebuilt 3rds sounds like a much better option at this point. That way we could still offer the services of regearing/locking, but without having to get into the grit of it all.

By great deal of work, do you mean mechanically difficult, or just time consuming?

 

A press for the bearings and a dial indicator along with an inch pound torque wrench are the names of the game.

I got my rear third from Drivetrain Direct. They will put in anything, gears, LSD's, lockers, etc. Lots of shops will do that. Not sure about shipping a front third out of the new trucks, that could still not come off the shelf because the demand is low???

From what I understand, it is not that it is hard, it is just that one needs experience to know when it is right. At 150 or so for gears, plus about the same for bearings, etc. and then count down time for the rig, it would be a real problem to make a mistake on the install.

If I were in your shoes, I would have a hard time charging for ring and pinion set-up if I had done less than a dozen. Not to mention if it were your first time or eight, it will take more time.

 

Time Consuming.

 

The front is not that time consuming. Tom (Trailcarnage) and I pulled my front diff this weekend in about an hour. It's not that bad, it took a lot longer to replace my entire rear axle (bought a used one with 4.30 gears and e-locker) than it did to swap the front diff (also got a front diff with the 4.30 gears from the same wrecked vehicle).

 

That's good to hear as I'm considering doing the same type of swap. How long did the whole process take you?

 

About 6.5 hours total with breaks, (95 degrees, humidity). No lift, just using jack stands. My piece of advice: take good care of the axle seals front and rear when pulling and replacing the axles. Somehow I screwed up one of the front axle seals and it leaks pretty bad. It soaked part of the underside of my 4Runner with nice smelling gear oil. Now I get to replace the seal again.

 

I did my front one. (Actually, I wrote the article at 4x4wire too ) It's time consuming but not brain surgery. A shop press is mandatory. So are Dial calipers, feeler gauges, Seal tools, torque wrench, 10 & 12mm allen and a bearing separater. The rest of the tools are pretty standard.