Took the superior gears that I got from quatratec to a shop near me that was recommended in here, to do the gear swap with 3.21 to 4.56. The shop called and said the pinion doesn't fit in right and it needs to go in further, seems like the splines werent cut correctly. I called quadratic and they said that this is common and he needs to drill out where the pinion goes in so it fits correctly.
Is this correct? The mechanic isn't happy and thinks its cheap chinese parts and I should have used parts from him but I didn't think there were American made gears. I'm going to get both my mechanic and qtec on the line. The good thing is the shop is in Kennett square and qtec in west Chester so they can swap the part easy if it's wrong. Let me know if this sounds fishy.

 

Anyone help?

 

just about every gear made is made by a company in south korea called cha and, simply repackaged in different boxes. if you look on the side of the gear, you should see a circle with a letter k in it - this is their logo. needless to say, your mechanic is an idiot for suggesting that his parts would have been better as they would most likely have been the same. also, i can't believe that quadratec would tell you to drill, cut or do anything to the pinion as that would probably void any warranty that you have. IF in fact the pinion is bad, i would make them take it back and have it replaced.

 

Just a quick question, could it be the carrier? You mentioned you went from 3.21 to 4.56. Is this in fron t on a Dana 30?
If all is good there, as WOL said, take them back.

 

It's the rear he's working right now. He's talking to superior now but he's not happy since he is spending so much time with them. THey are saying he needs to really pound on it to get it to fit. And he doesn't want to put his name on something with "cheap chinese parts" he's rather put it back together and use other parts

 

I agree with you and what I've been reading, but I'm trying to be careful how I talk to this mechanic, I don't want to piss him off since he is working on my baby. That being said, he's giving me a great price to do the install. I'll know more tonight i guess.

The front needed a new carrier, but the rear did not. I got master install kits for him, front and rear. D30 in front D44 in rear.

 

Well the saga continues. He never got to it yesterday so we will see what progress he makes today. He said he filed the splines down and is going to beat it in today and maybe get to the front this afternoon or tomorrow. I hope I get it tomorrow night for the weekend...
In the meantime, my other car's alternator went out. Luckily i got a ride home from a friend, picked up a new one and installed it in the parking lot this morning. Whatever can go wrong will. geesh.

 

I have heard some one say to heat the pinion in the oven and freeze the ring gear easier to get them to mesh...

 

I picked up the jeep this morning and it seems to be perfect. I can't hear a darn thing. Either they are super smooth or the exhaust drowns them out. Put it in 4wd and drove a little bit just to make sure it worked and no probs. at 70mph in 6th i'm at about 2900 rpm, which is right were I figured with my 33's. I'm going to 35's, maybe 36's, so that will drop me down a couple rpms and be just about perfect. Going to be towing the boat to the beach tonight so we will see if it was all worth it.

Even though my mechanic had some issues he said he would do it again, he was just really leery about beating the gears in there. Total, he charged me $600 for the install, which is still pretty good. and around $900 for the superior gears from quadratec (that's with a front carrier). In addition, he called and asked if I wanted to put rear brakes, rotors and emergency brake/cables in since he was in there. He didn't charge me anymore for labor, just installed it. So I'm pretty happy, and recommend him. He was a good guy to work with. i don't know if you can mention shops on here, so if you want the name just ask. He's located in Kennett Square PA. Extremely clean shop.

One question though: from what I read the gears are all the same; yukon and superior are the same, just rebranded. I talked to the jeep dealer (Adams Jeep In aberdeen) and they are trying to tell me that Yukons are much better gears, that they are cooled after they are formed making the atoms closer together. I think that's a bunch of BS, but thought I'd ask if there is any truth to this.

 

It was the pinion fitting into the yoke that was so tight. the splines needed filed down to fit better from what I understand.