I havent found an answer to this anywhere, and thought Id ask...

I have the upgrade optional anti-slip rear diff on my JK

Will new gearing affect this at all?

Also....everyone talks about which ratio gears to get, but not brand.
who makes and sells gears?
are they all the same?
Is there a higher quality brand over any other?

I feel so stupid when it comes to all of this. Ive decided on 5.13s for my JK, but only by what others have posted.
I know so much about so many things, but just have no clue here. ugh.

 

In what what way have you upgraded your LSD? Whatever, it shouldn't effect the gears you put in. Superior and Yukon both offer 5.13's. Depending on who you talk to they're made by the same plant in China, Taiwan, India, Dominican Republic.... My Yukon's say made in USA right on'em. Anyhow, I'm happy with mine and most say the same about their Superiors. I think the most important thing is to get a very good, skilled, reputable shop to put'em in for you.

 

All the gears we get are made in either China or India,Your LS working with them dunno, ask David at Northridge. I put a lock-right frt locker in mine, same carrier, different gears, from 4.10 to 5.13.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by special gearing?? But...
The rear 'upgraded' diff you have is the Dana Spicer Trac-lok, a clutch pack style limited slip differential. You should have NO problems installing your decided on gears into your ride providing you get a Dana 44 rear and Dana 30 front set. As already mentioned, Superior and Yukon are the most popular brands...your best bet is to give Dave at Northridge a call, very knowledgeable guy, rest assured he'll steer you in the right direction.

No...you won't need special gearing, regardless if you had an open carrier, lsd or locker. Provided you purchase JK specific ring and pinion sets. Superior ring gears are threaded for 1/2" ring gear bolts and your Trac-lok should already be 1/2" bolts, your good. Also, being that you have 3.73's your front dana 30 carrier should be more than happy to accept the numerically higher gearing

 

The problem with changing the gears is that if you ever plan on putting in lockers, you should do it when you change the gears. You should expect to pay around $1000 in labor to install the gears. I would expect that most would say that 1000 is a liitle on the high side. The shop that did mine quoted me 800 to install the gears, but did the gears and lockers for the same price. If you dont do the gears and lockers at the same time, and want to get lockers later, you will pay for intall labor twice. Sorry to go off on that tangent but its something to think about. Having said all that mess, i have superior gears in mine and am happy with em so far. Less than 1000 miles though. I got mine from Northridge. I also got my ARB lockers from Northridge. Whatever rout you decide to go, as seer1 said, make sure you use someone who knows what they are doing.

corey d

 

Great.
Lockers.
More stuff I have no clue about.
Don't even know what they do.

Is this something I need too?

Sigh.

 

If you gear towards stock no. If you gear towards more power, it will slip sooner because of the added torque reaching the wheels. The basic design and functionality of the LSD will not change. Kind of like pushing harder on the gas is all.

 

Don't pay that much! If someones taking a grand in labor to install new gears they are charging too much or taking too long. I know of a place that can install gears for less than 600.

 

crash if you add lockers to your jeep (specifically the front) you may have to ease up some on the skinny pedal when you wheel unless you install molly shafts and other things to beef it up. If you get a front locker I would get a selectable so you can turn it off except the 1% of the time you need it. When an auto locker gets power to it the thing locks, that makes it hard to turn when it is engaged if you are not used to driving a locked front. It also can contribute to failure in the axle because it will continue to force a bound up tire to turn where an open diff will put the power to the other side. That is great for getting traction, but can cause things to break. your tires are huge and that dana 30 is tiny. just something to keep in mind.

Since you have a lim slip in the rear, I think adding a front selectable would be all you really need for added traction. you can always add them later if you want also. I am saving up for front and rear ARB's to put in mine. I am still up in the air about what I want to do about my front axle though. Building that D30 may cost as much as a D44. I had an Aussie locker in the front but I did not like the onroad performance of it and sold it for $100.

 

Lockers isn't something you necessarily need, it's just something to put on a 4wd vehicle for better off road traction. A locker "locks" the left and right side of the axle together so that the 2 wheels on one axle are spinning equally. Normally, when one tire comes off the ground, it spins, while the other wheel does nothing. The lockers engage both wheel on the axle to work equally, so, when one tire comes off the ground, the other tire is still moving the Jeep. The Rubicon comes with front and rear lockers, some of the Sahara and X models can have a rear locker as an option. Some poeple put lockers in on their own, and some never bother having them.

If you don't plan on extreme off roading, then you will probably never miss not having lockers.