shabbernigdo

Lol. Not all of us need the approval of others. O noes the yj and tj guys think all jk owners are yuppies. Yeah so? fk them. i do with my jeep what i want and if they dont like it they can go suck a ( use your imagination ) . if i break down and they dont like my jk they are free to drive on by.



"Most of them are in YJ's or TJ's running 60's with LS swaps hydro steer and the works." So they have a lot of money whats your point? Not all of us have the tools / facilitys or the disposable funds to turn our daily into a hardcore trail rig.

jtphoto JK

Lots of good points here but a lot of crap too. Gears are not hard to swap but one must have the availability to a press and other tools. With said tools it can be an enjoyable and relaxing afternoon in the garage with some fellow Jeepers.

Jeeping with someone who ALWAYS breaks HIS S*** on the trail and doesn't know how to fix or never carries tools is no different then that guy that is always stuck but never carries recovery gear or winch. It gets old real fast. I am all about helping others out but there is a limit.

BFGMallTerrains

Kinda like that bully kid on the playground beating up anyone that he thinks is inferior to him. No balls shown there. Interesting and very sad how quick you are to sharply criticize. And you shout out that I and many of us are negative lol. Amazing. The OP was simply asking for input based on the fact that he seemed unfamiliar with doing a regear himself. We should forgive your lack of paying attention to the vast input from many members on this forum eager to learn but skeptical about taking on what you call such a brainless project, especially after the overwhelming number of posts from those that have problems after regearing. My first shop couldn't even get it right. And you and Mr. JK think everyone that balances a demanding career and tries to spend time with their families and doesn't have the 2 days it takes and all the tools to do it themselves is a complete idiot. Through your posts it's clear that you have the professionalism, tact and finesse it takes to work your way up the FCA corporate ladder to take the CEO position and mandate that anyone that wants to buy a Jeep must first pass an auto mechanic class first. Must be nice to have all that spare time on your hands to do all your own wrenching. You, sir insult those who want to improve their Jeeps but aren't as blessed as you are to be so perfect and odor-free.
I and I'm sure many of us hope you and Jonathan JK feel better about yourselves and how truly awesome you are after your rants and how incredible your knowledge of regearing is. I'm truly impressed.

Chuck-The-Ripper

You obviously forgot the entire reason for this post. The op was looking to do his own gears. If you don't want to or have no time that's fine, but don't discourage others.

PsychoCupcake

I think this was the best response I've seen so far. If you personally have not done gears, then don't tell the OP not to do it. You don't have first hand experience as to what is involved. Those of us that have done gears can reply to the OP and advise what the pros and cons are of doing them yourself.

Saying things like "don't do it, it's too time consuming" when you haven't done a regear, is completely invalid. Same goes for recommending not to do it because it's too hard.

On the other hand, like Chuck said, if you chose not to regear your own Jeep because you didn't have the time to learn, didn't have the proper tools, or were afraid you would mess it up because you read that on the internet, that is 100% okay. No one is judging you. You weighed the options and chose not to do it. You recognized your own limitations and frankly, that's way better than someone trying to bite off more than they can chew just because they wanted to win a d*ck swinging contest. However, again, don't tell someone else not to do it just because you didn't.

I don't know of a single person that decided to do their regear and regretted it. I had absolutely zero knowledge on the process before I did mine. Shit, I'll tell you right now that 2 years prior to that I barely knew what an axle was. But I learned. And I did my own gears. They have been 100% issue free for over 2 years and 20k miles. For anyone wanting to learn, I say do it.

Chuck-The-Ripper

Psycho cupcake pretty much explained my response with much more tact. I definitely came off like a douchebag but it's so annoying every time someone brings up doing gears people with no real experience chime in with all these ridiculous statements. I apologize for responding the way I did but hold true to point.

DJ1

I've been sitting on the fence for awhile now about making the jump and doing the gears myself. I am really starting to hate the 3.73 / running 37's combo.


As far as bolt-on's go, gears is the last 1 I have yet to do / conquer aside from bolting in a new TC or crate engine. Like most things in life, I think it ultimately comes down to time, $, and piece of mind.


You have a reputable shop do it, then you get piece of mind with the warranty, you minimize down-time on you rig, but the trade off is that your spending big bucks and your not learning anything.


You do them yourself primarily because you want to save $ and learn at the same time. The obvious risk is down-time and spending additional $ on tools you'll probably only use maybe 2 or 3 times as a DIY hobby mechanic. Up to this point, I've never needed a hydraulic shop press and frankly don't have the room in my already cramped 2-car garage for one but one can also get the bearings pressed on by a local shop if need be. If I had a 3-car garage, then no problem


I have the time as I can easily take consecutive days off but what I don't have time for is being out of additional $$ because I messed up on the gears and now have to deal with renting a car until I can get the JK running again because of my screw up. This is my DD so down time needs to be minimal.


As a degreed EE with mechanical aptitude, I'd like to think that I can get it done but I'm also the type that isn't opposed to learning from someone that can do this with their eyes closed especially for the very first gear change. I actually learn better that way.


For people sitting on the fence about DIY, you "hear" so many stories of "gears imploding" so naturally the first reaction is to probably just take it to a shop and get it done.


But hey, if a "girl" like psycho can do it, I can do it too LOL. Challenge!!!


.

BoraBora

Agreed. I'd love to learn if I knew someone with the ability, and they were willing to walk me through it.

PsychoCupcake

The gauntlet has been thrown boys! Lol.

My other argument is that I've heard of way more problems from gears done by "reputable shops" than I have from people who have done their own gears. Find a shop that is willing to send you pics of the gear pattern before they zip it back together. If they are doing lockers too, make sure they routed the air lines correctly. Just because someone else does the work doesn't mean you shouldn't educate yourself on what a proper gear job should look like.

For me, I was willing to spend as much time and energy as needed to get the result I wanted. If shop had quoted you the work based on the labor hours, and then they run into an issue, you have to wonder what corners they ended up cutting in order to not lose money on the job.

I'm always happy to teach someone how to do gears. If you know how to do it, pay it forward.

Jonathan_JK

I'm not assuming everyone has the same skill set. If you read my posts on the fist page. I said what may be easy for some might be over another's head. If it's your first time get someone who has done it before to help then the process will burn into your head and you can pass the knowledge on. This is not a pissing contest who has better wrenching skills but if someone wants to learn how to do it don't be a negative nelly about it. If time is important and you can't have your Jeep down for a few days then by all means take it to a shop. For a lot of us it's a hobby and not a DD so if I mess up something I can still get to work on Monday. Most of us that do all the wrench work have pride in or Jeep and want to pass any knowledge we can to help another person who is willing to learn.