1bad86

I did a few different searches and saw that everyone complained about the noise of Richmond and different cheaper ring and pinion gear sets. So what brand is everyone running that is good quality for mid performance? I'll be Going with a 3.73 ratio

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

Dana/Spicer, Superior, Precision, US Gear, Motive

Avoid the "made in India" type stuff

big gear head

US Gear and Yukon have worked well for me for may years. I've installed hundreds of them.

Time2Fly

FYI...I just purchased a Richmond gear set to replace an existing Richmond gear set (ratio change). The existing gears were purchased about ten years ago. The new Richmond gear set came in a factory sealed carton with instructions from Motive Gear. I also noticed the part numbers (which were correct per Richmond) etched onto the gears were in a different style/font than the old Richmond gear set, but the double diamond is still present. The old gears were made under Regal/Beloit, I wonder if Richmond is now owned by or owner of Motive Gear? Anyway, the newer Richmond gear set didn't seem to be as quite as "nice" as the old set - the machining didn't look as crisp or sharp and was made in Italy.

1bad86

That's interesting, I might just end up going with a set of richmonds anyway.

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

The Richmonds that are NOT the "drag race specific" ones called Pro Gear, if memory serves, are (or were) a good quality gear too, although I've never used them.

Not sure about the "made in Italy" part; no comment on whether that might be good or bad. India, Thailand, China, definitely bad; those, along with a few similar others, are the "low bid" sources.

big gear head

Motive gear made in Italy is good. They are quality gears. Motive gear made in Korea is junk.

PhoenixFirebird

iTrader: (2)

IIRC, Richmond owns Motive now. Either of those I would strongly suggest. I'm going with a Motive 3.70 gear in my Moser 9". Personally, I'd rather have the tried and true strength of a Richmond/Motive, even if it comes with noisy gears. I've only heard Richmond being really bad for noise, can't say I've heard anything about noisy Motive gears. Maybe that has changed since they're made by the same company now.

Either way, I'm not worried about gear noise, the sound of the motor will cover that up

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

That's because the only people that ever talk about "Richmond" and "noise", are people who SCREWED UP and put the DRAG RACE GEAR into a completely WRONG application, and drove em on the street.

Richmond is a good company with good products. Unfortunately they don't have the testicular fortitude to tell the street strokes NOT to put their highest $$$$ product in their STREET cars. Apparently they are ... ahhhh,,, .. ,,, ...... ladies of ill repute .... and as such are willing to take any amount of money from anyone for any reason at any time for doing anything regardless of any moral scruples. As a result, you hear "Richmonds" are "noisy"... not, I put "Richmonds" in my RACE ONLY car and put an end to my gear breaking problems. Too bad they let their greed get in the way of managing their message properly.

It's all a matter of matching the right PRODUCT to the APPLICATION it was intended for; and NOT putting it into an application it's DOOMED TO FAIL in.

1bad86

That's exactly what I'm thinking too

88gunmetalgta

iTrader: (1)

Gear whine can get pretty frigging annoying... That said, I went with richmond gears and a detroit locker too, both of which will probably be annoying on the street, but will never break.

1bad86

Very true

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

Don't bet on it.

This is a classic example of not understanding what is really going on, and making a potentially bad decision as a result.

The reason they are good for drag racing, is because THEY ARE SOFTER; a different alloy, and not heat-treated to the same level. Therefore they don't SHATTER when shocked like stock-ish gears do.

However, that makes them BAD BAD BAD for the street: THEY ARE SOFT. They will not wear as long. The kind of miles that get put on a street car, TOTALLY DWARFS the mileage on a drag racer. They sacrificed long-term high-mileage longevity, in favor of improving their durability IN ONE SPECIFIC APPLICATION.

As always, it's not a matter of "quality", as in, anything "racing" is "better" than anything "street"; rather, it's a question of SUITABILITY FOR A SPECIFIC PURPOSE.

big gear head

I think there is some misunderstanding here. Nobody has said anything about running pro gears on the street. Richmond makes more street gears than pro gears. The street gears are made from the 8000 series steel and heat treated to around 60 Rockwell C. That's plenty hard for street use. The pro gears for drag racing are made from 9000 series steel. They are not as hard and flex under shock loads. They don't wear well and shoud not be used on the street.

PhoenixFirebird

iTrader: (2)

Right, the pro gears are made from a softer material that absorb the shock of high performance launches. They aren't made for the street because they aren't made to handle heat. How much heat do you generate in a 1/4 mile? Not even remotely close to as much as street driving.

However Sofa, what makes you think people only screw up with Richmond gears? Sure, improper setup may contribute to gear noise, but with all the noise complaints of Richmond gears and not any other gear manufacturers, people MUST be setting up the OTHER companies' gears perfect 100% of the time if they never complain of gear noise. It HAS to be ONLY Richmond that people can't properly set up. Do you ever hear of any other gear maker that's notorious for noise? All gearsets no matter who makes them have the opportunity to be set up incorrectly. Improper set up and improper application use are not the only contributors to gear noise...Why do you hear complaints of noise from Richmond over everyone else?

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

Because in addition to their metallurgy being different, the shape of their teeth is also different. They are for DRAG RACING, not smooth street performance. They are cut with less "helix" to them, so they don't slide as much during operation, which causes more of a "cogging" effect as they turn against each other and the teeth mesh and un-mesh. Once again, good for drag racing, BAD BAD BAD for the street.

Another design detail optimized in favor of one application, but therefore compromised at the expense of another.

Not "quality"; suitability for a particular purpose.

big gear head

I've installed many Richmond gears that were as quiet as any other gears. I've also had a few Yukon, US Gear and other brands that made some noise even though they were set up correctly. I had one new GM gear that made so much noise that it sounded like a fire truck was chasing me down the road. A lot of it has to do with how the cutter was set up when the gears were cut. I've had gears from one batch that were noisy and the same gears from another batch that were completely quiet.

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

Also incidentally, the "heat" thing I mentioned above, isn't about "handle heat"; it's about the HEAT TREATING during production. Stock, and similar applications, require a VERY hard surface on the gears, almost like glass, to give the best possible wear resistance. However, like glass, the harder you make them to resist wear, the more prone they are to shattering when shocked.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case_hardening

Again, "suitability for purpose". Gears, like almost everything else, aren't on a straight-line continuum from "crap" to "great"; they have all manner of properties that can be individually managed to provide particular characteristics, usually at teh expense of other characteristics that "don't matter" in the spcific application. The Richmond drag race gears are a classic example of this: good for drag racing (some would argue, the best), but WRONG for the street. Too bad they don't tell people about that in stronger terms. Instead they are willing to collect the stupid money from n00bs that think "it's for racing, all the really fast cars use em, gotta be better for my hooptie", and end up with their reputation being dragged through the mud over "hard to set up" and "noisy" and eventually "wore out quick".

Suitability for ONE purpose, WRONG for any other.

2007xl50

Yes Richmond owns Motive now. Back in 05 I had a set of Motive 4.10's in my Fox body and loved them. The race car builder that instlled them said he only likes to use Motive when he can and this guy builds top notch cars. Richmond is a good gear as well.

Ron U.S.M.C.

Here's a link explaining the difference between the Richmond gear sets. = http://www.richmondgear.com/sportsma...smanCompar.pdf
Seems to me that the Richmond Sportsman gear sets are made of the same 8620 material that a stock GM gear set is .
8620 - Standard OE material - 0.6% nickel
4320 - High impact material - 1.75% nickel
9310 - Top fuel / Drag material - 3.1% nickel