Ring Gear & Pinion?

[Kerry j]

I need to change the 9" rear end and Dana 30 front axle gears in my 69 Bronco. I swapped in a NV3550 in place of the 3 speed Toploader transmission; the NV3550 has a .78 OD 5th gear which makes the 3.50 gears I have now way too tall. If I go with 4.56 I end up with a little less top end gear, 4.11 a little more.

The question is; what's the difference in the ring gear and pinion options; I see Motive, Yukon, USA and other brands all available in either ratio, but there's a big difference in the cost of these gear sets. I want a good set, but this Bronco isn't for racing and doesn't make huge HP, it has a slightly warmed up 302 with Headers, a Comp XE256H cam, a 4100 4bbl carb and Ford Cast Iron intake.

So what's the difference in these gear sets? Is it worth paying a few hundred more for a Yukon or one of the other more expensive sets over the USA or one of the other less expensive sets?

[machoneman]

Well, nobody else jumped in so.....I'd go for the pricey gears myself. Many on various car blogs have complained of 'cheap' gears being whiney and having trouble getting an acceptable range of drive, coast (or both) meshing when checking with gear marking compound. Rare is it that folks buying the high $ gears have these issues.  It's kind of like Vegas: the odds of getting a bad gearset decline markedly IMHO when buying better gears while the inverse is also true! Yes, it's also true that some, or even many, beat the odds with cheap gears and have no issues. So maybe it is a crapshoot     

Oddly, if it's a race-only vehicle with open headers (and yours isn't) it may be o.k. to go for cheaper gears that get inspected much more often and gear whine isn't a factor.

[Kerry j]

Thanks for the reply! Ya know, your answer is a great example of why it's a good idea to post questions here. The idea of whiny gears never even occurred to me; I was all caught up in how strong they would be. You're 100% right that I do not want whiny gears and not having the whine is easily worth the extra $100.00 or so.

Thanks for the tip and reality check!