Learn all about how to properly set up a differential

[themoose]

Setting Up a Differential Ring & PinionMany moons ago when I first started to get involved with trying to make my car go faster in the quarter it became apparent that one of the things that needed to be done was to install lower gears in the rear. I had 4:11's and a friend of mine had 4:56's and he always killed me out of the hole and I never had enough steam to make up the difference. I had a small block Chevy that could pull RPM's all day long but didn't have much torque. No problem,I'll just throw in a set of gears and I'll be good to go. I bought a set of Zoom 4:56 gears and one Friday night after work a friend and I made the swap. It seemed pretty straight forward. Just remove the rear end carrier,swap out the ring and pinion pop everything back and it's time for a test drive. Well let me tell you the car came out of the hole like a rocket and accelerated like never before....LIFE IS GOOD. Then I let off the gas and it sounded like there was a bunch of screaming banshees in the trunk....What the @#$% went wrong? After talking to some guys in the know I found out that there was a whole lot to know about setting up a gear set to make it work properly. Over the years I've mastered the art and have set up quite a few gears for friends and customers. Not everyone wants to get involved with setting up their own rear end but for those of you that do or those who just want to know more about how it's done I've attached a really good article that walks you through the procedure and defines the nomenclature associated with the rear gears. Hope you enjoy!

Moose

[TFoch]

Good info Moose, thanks for posting.
Tom

[EDNY]

Thanks Moose..I have both Differential & 700R4 rebuilding DVD's if anyone needs to borrow one.

Ed