ring and pinion brands

[1BEATK5]

What brand of gears do guys suggest? i need to buy gears for 4 axles.
i'm 1 for 2 with yukons, and i normally just buy used dana gears, but this
time i'm going new, and don't want to spend $300+ for dana's.
i don't want noisy gears for the rear axles (d44 and d35) and i want strong gears for the front (d30) but noise isn't an issue

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

The gears should not be noisy, period. If they are, they're setup wrong (though I've heard Spicer says their 6.xx and 7.xx ratios are made more for strength than noise). Generally though, the lower the ratio (numerically higher) the weaker the gearset.

Again, strength of the gears doesn't really differ IME. Setup is WAY more important than anything.

Good luck with doing anything with the D35, I've know ~10 people that bothered to change gears on them and all regret it. If you need new gears for it you're probably running bigger than stock tires and if that's the case, the D35 probably has a really short life ahead of it. If you don't want to change axles watch your local boards/craigslist, lots of people regear them and then swap them out.


Anyway, as to your original question, I've setup ~30 gearsets now and I've only had an issue with one set (Richmond gears on a 7.5" 10 bolt, would'nt ever make anything near a decent pattern and are apparently known for that on that axle). The only one I'd really avoid are genuine, which may go by the "G2" moniker now.

I've installed lots of Yukon and PORC gears, both of them buy gears from various manufacturers in bulk and repackage them. I've seen Richmond, Spicer, GM, etc in those packages. Never had a problem with either, PORC is generally the cheapest.

 

[CUCV2]

Superior R & Ps are a good choice.

 

[1BEATK5]

I know all about the d35. i overhaul them regularly at work. the one i have is in my street princess, and i just want better performance from it, it only has 30" tires, i already have all the bearings for it, it's light, and already under the truck, or i would swap it out.
i had a 44 for it, but i traded it for my xzl's

the reason i ask about noise is because if you look at the descriptions from some gear manufacturers, they say that the gears may be noisey.
and the gears are cheap, like around $115 a set. but if they might be noisey as they claim i would have no problem spending another $50 for quiet ones in the rear axles.

i work at a dealer, so the only gears i install there are Dana, or AAM

 

[DeviousK5]

The noisy thing from manufactures is just a disclaimer more or less. I have installed about 3 dozen sets or so of sierra gear brand gears, which lots claim to be noisy, I have yet to have an issue. Yukons are quality for sure. Like 383 said its much more about setup than install. Lots of trash talk about the Genuine gear brand , for that reason i have never bought a set. If it was a GM id vote for AAM set. A ford: Ford racing gears. Dana axle = spicer gears unless cost was an issue(it always is).

 

[Tabb]

I'm running MotiveGear.

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

I know all about the d35. i overhaul them regularly at work. the one i have is in my street princess, and i just want better performance from it, it only has 30" tires, i already have all the bearings for it, it's light, and already under the truck, or i would swap it out.
i had a 44 for it, but i traded it for my xzl's

the reason i ask about noise is because if you look at the descriptions from some gear manufacturers, they say that the gears may be noisey.
and the gears are cheap, like around $115 a set. but if they might be noisey as they claim i would have no problem spending another $50 for quiet ones in the rear axles.

i work at a dealer, so the only gears i install there are Dana, or AAM

I've setup lots of gearsets from PORC, all good. Like I said before, they repackage gears from different manufacturers just like Yukon; sometimes you get Spicer gears, sometimes Richmond, sometimes stuff I hadn't heard of. Never had a problem.

D30

D35

D44

 

[1BEATK5]

Thanks guys. that answered my question.
now it's time to get to work