Ring & Pinion manufacturers and sellers

[bigmoparjeff]

I've been repairing cars both professionally and as a hobby since 1982 but have never had to purchase a new set of gears for anything that I have ever owned or worked on. A customer of mine wants the ring and pinion in his Challenger swapped from 3.23 to 3.91, so I've begun the process of shopping for a new set of gears and installation kit.

Almost thirty years ago I had friends that changed gears, but back then choices were limited to pretty much OEM, Richmond, and Zoom, that you got from the local car dealer or speed shop. Fast forward to now and there are quite a few more manufacturers and a bunch of specialized drivetrain sellers. I'd be interested in hearing any recommendations or horror stories anybody might have about the various manufacturers or dealers.

Here's what I've come up with so far:

Yukon Gear & Axle........High quality, made in USA, most expensive of all brands

USA Standard Gear.......Yukon parts that don't quite meet spec are boxed as USA Standard Gear and sold at a lower price.

Motive Gear..........Lower cost, some sets made in Italy and others likely China

Richmond Gear.......Mid pack pricing, possibly offshore made or cast offshore/machined in USA

Elite.....................Low priced brand sold on eBay, likely sourced offshore

Zoom...................Race gears, mostly low ratios, noisiest of all gears

US Gear................Mid range pricing, made in USA, tied to Strange Engineering

Doctor Diff brand......Low price gears, no info on who actually makes them


Some of the sellers that I found:

Yukon Gear and Axle

Randys Woldwide, formerly Randy's Ring & Pinion

DTS, or Drive Train Specialists

Doctor Diff

Summit, Jegs, eBay


Right now I'm leaning towards the US Gear brand from DTS. US Gear seems to be the proudest of their US manufacturing and DTS seems to have reasonable prices, though their website leaves a lot to be desired. Also, being in Michigan, shipping won't take too long.

Any input, additions, recommendations, or corrections are appreciated.


Thanks, Jeff

 

[stubs300]

I've done biz with DTS, had no problems. From all the traffic through time, I haven't heard any bad reports/complaints from all that you've listed above. I'm not familiar with Motive, Elite, Zoom, so can't comment. Hope this helps? Good Luck

 

[57fury440]

I've had Richmond gears in my car for about 15 plus years with no problems. They are 3.91 ratio and are quiet. They are in a 489 case. I do not recall who I got them from.

 

[CBODY67]

You might inquire as to the specs on the metal they use for the gears. Seems like, years ago, that it was said that Zoom gears were basically for drag racing (hence the deeper ratios) and were a bit softer than OEM in order to tolerate the shock loads of launches/WOT manual trans shifts, etc.

Some of the aftermarket ring gears I've seen have a dull silver-gray color to them and also have a "ring" that might inply a higher tensile strength of the metal, when compared to the normal OEM ring gear. Similar with the aftermarket manual trans gears I've seen, too.

I would suspect that a B/E-body with 3.91 gears is going to encounter some "competition" situations, so getting a quality set of gears is important, to support that kind of activity.

I know that Summit is a respected vendor, but they are just like anybody else in their business, seeking to provide a decent product at a competitive price point. As Jeg's is tied to drag racing via the owner/operator, you might see what they sell, too. Especially if their race car has the same brand of gears they sell . . . for good measure.

Just some thoughts,
CBODY67

 

[65sporty]

I have used Yukon, Motive, Richmond and GM gears. I have had good luck with all of them. I have bought from DTS in the past and have had good service