Gears ?

[mudslinger99]

How do you know if you have thick or standard gears without having both in front of you to decide which one is thicker ?

If you have 4.56 gears how would you know if they are thick gears or if the carrier had been changed to accept 4.56 standard gears ?

Which is better thick gears or changing the carrier to accept standard gears ?

 

[jekbrown]

How do you know if you have thick or standard gears without having both in front of you to decide which one is thicker?

what axle are we talkin about here? ff14b? From what I remember, its pretty rare for a rig to have the 4.56+ carrier unless it was a military ff14b which came with 4.56s and detroits stock. Pretty sure most ff14bs have 4.10 gears and use the normal 4.10- carrier.

If you have 4.56 gears how would you know if they are thick gears or if the carrier had been changed to accept 4.56 standard gears ?

pull the cover and take a pic with a ruler held up next to the gear...

Which is better thick gears or changing the carrier to accept standard gears ?

with this axle it really is more about 'which gears are cheaper/easier to find' then it is 'which is stronger'. Chances are, a ff14b isn't going to break... if it does, it probably won't be the r&p that does assuming the gears are set up right and have oil. 5.13s are hard to find for the 4.56+ carrier... and if you do find them, they cost more than the "thick" 5.13s. For that reason alone, I'd go with the 4.10- carrier and thick gears.

j

 

[mudslinger99]

Yeah it is a 14 bolt ff ..

The reason I asked how to tell the difference between thick gears and standard is because lets say somebody wants to sell you 4.56 and you got 4.10 which I do then how would I know just by looking at them if they are 4.56 thick or standard ?

To clarify even more lets say I go over to my buddies house and he shows me a set of gears and ask me if they are thick or standard how do I tell the difference just by looking at them ?

I was told yesterday that if the carrier had been changed I would need standard gears if not then I would need thick gears.. So I need to know how to just look at the gears and decide if they are thick or standard..

Thanks

 

[mudslinger99]

Which is better thick gears or changing the carrier to accept standard gears ?


with this axle it really is more about 'which gears are cheaper/easier to find' then it is 'which is stronger'. Chances are, a ff14b isn't going to break... if it does, it probably won't be the r&p that does assuming the gears are set up right and have oil. 5.13s are hard to find for the 4.56+ carrier... and if you do find them, they cost more than the "thick" 5.13s. For that reason alone, I'd go with the 4.10- carrier and thick gears.j

Thanks you answered that question perfectly

Now I know not to ever change carriers..

 

[jekbrown]

np. The 4.10- carrier is the one to have. Just an example... look at the gears page on 4wpw. "thick" 5.13s for the ff14b are $195.99.... standard 5.13 gears for the 4.56+ carrier are $341.99. That pretty much says it all right there.

j

 

[mudslinger99]

Now I just need to figure this part out..

So how do tell the difference between thick gears and standard gears by just looking at them ?

To clarify even more lets say I go over to my buddies house and he shows me a set of gears and ask me if they are thick or standard how do I tell the difference just by looking at them ?

 

[jekbrown]

if it will help, I'll measure my "thick" ff14b ring gear thickness when it arrives. Its gonna be 4-5 weeks tho...

j

 

[mudslinger99]

OK thanks

I thought maybe there was enough difference to tell like standard might be 2 inches and thick might be 4 inches just to throw some numbers out there..

 

[jekbrown]

I'm thinking they are within an inch of each other with respect to thickness... could be wrong, I haven't seen 5.13 thick gears in person. Safe to say that neither is 4" thick though.

j

 

[mudslinger99]

Yeah I was just throwing those numbers out there as an example

I thought maybe they were easy to tell apart due to thickness or some type of markings or numbers but I guess that would be to easy

I'm happy with the 4.10's in it now with the 33 inch tires but I might have to change them up when I put the 36 inch tires on.. I got a 4.56 ring and pinion that came with the truck when I bought it that is suppose to fit the 14ff.. I got them over a buddies house in a box of other parts and never really paid much attention to them so I don't know if they fit or not.. The guy I got the truck from was going to put them in so I would think they are right but who knows

Let me know when you get your new gears and tell me what if any way you could tell a difference just by loooking..