Rear Gears

[arcwcb]

I'm looking for new gears for my stang, I do a LOT of long highway trips with it, so I'm looking for a nice mix of performance and daily. I don't think 3.73's would be enough to keep me happy, but 4.10's I know are more than I want when on the highway.

That being said, i found a 3.89 ring and pinion for my stang by Richmond Gear on Jegs. It seems like the perfect ratio for what I want. Can anybody comment on the quality of these parts? Thanks for the help guys!

 

[gmantheman]

I haven't heard too much about the Richmond gears, so I am not sure if they are susceptible to gear whine like motives. Motives are made of a harder material then FRPP gears which may make more noise. I have 4.10s and my car is a d/d. I drive over 50 miles per. day on the hwy. Honestly it's not that bad.

 

[Mrfivepointo]

I've had Richmond Gear gear sets in at least 8 or 9 Mustangs I've owned and ummm don't repeat this but a few Chevy's I've owned, and never an issue if set up right. No excessive noise. I currently run a set of 4:86 Richmonds in my 93 Cobra Drag Car no failures yet, in 18 years of track use.(not sure thse are the original set though)

 

[SpartaPerformance]

If you're going to go 3.89 then you might as well just stick with FRPP 3.73's. The 4.10's aren't all that bad.

 

[arcwcb]

Gman-By long highway trips, I mean 200+ miles. I've driven S197s with the 4.10's and it's just not what I want for long stints on the highway.

Mr-Thanks for the review. I've heard of people racing with them and saying they hold up extremely well and are very durable, i just didn't know if they had a horrible whine, although most of that is how it was set up. Although, the people who ran them had them in Chevy's as well, but lets keep that on the DL.

Sparta-Why would you say if I'm going to a 3.89 that I might as well just stick with the FRPP 3.73? It's 0.18 between the stock 3.55 and the 3.73 and another 0.16 between the 3.89 and 3.73. I see that they would be similar, but I think the 3.89 would be a great ratio since I'm going to be camming it, helping out just a little more on the low end. Nothing dramatic, but it's still helping, and if I'm going to be doing it anyways.

Also, just FYI, I won't do 4.10s because my graduation gift in December is a Procharger. So nitrous, procharger, cams, I don't think I need that much gear.

 

[gmantheman]

Holly crap 200+ miles.

 

[arcwcb]

Lol I'm in college, it's a 230-240 mile drive each way when I want to go home and my stang is my college car. So yeah, when I said long highway trips, I meant LONG trips lol.

 

[GOLDENPONY]

I'd go with 3.73. You can get these from FRPP and that is the brand you should stay with.

 

[arcwcb]

Is there a reason? I mean, I'm cool with people saying "go with the FRPP" but if you can't give a reason why the Richmond or Motive gears are bad, then I don't see how we can base this entirely on what brand it is.

Basically, if you're gonna say that FRPP is the brand I should stay with, please give a reason lol.

 

[GOLDENPONY]

FRPP Gears

If you research this question, you will see tons of discussions about gear brands. FRPP gears are well known to be the brand that will be most likely NOT to whine. That is the reason most people on here will advise you to stay with Ford gears.

 

[arcwcb]

Well yes, i've researched this plenty lol i know FRPP gears are least likely to whine and that Motives can be a little noisy. However, the reason i asked is that I've seen zero reviews of Richmond gears in S197's, so i was curious if anybody here had experience with them and could tell me what they thought. Sorry, i know everybody keeps saying go FRPP, but that isnt why I started the thread, the point was to get some reviews about the Richmonds so i know if they're any good lol.

 

[GOLDENPONY]

I once asked a friend of mine that was pretty savy about racing about Richmond gears. He told me they were strong, but noisey.

One other brand I have read some good things about is Yukon.

 

[arcwcb]

I checked their website and they didn't have any ring and pinions listed for S197 stangs. Are they listed somewhere else?

 

[GOLDENPONY]

I think all you have to look for is a Ford 8.8". It doesn't have to be especially for an S197.

 

[arcwcb]

That's what I did, I did the search and it only brought up for the Ford 9" rear. Maybe the search is messed up on the site.

So the Richmond's are noisy? I'm curious, how noisy are we talking for Richmond, Motive, etc? All I've ever driven have FRPP gears and it sounds stock. If by "noisy" it's just barely louder than stock with radio off, windows down, and stock exhaust, then it's fine with me, but if it's obnoxiously loud, I'll have a problem with them.

 

[GOLDENPONY]

That's tough to answer. I suppose noisy is subjective. Now myself, I would not want any noise, that's why I am staying with my OE 3.55 gears. I'd love 4.10s, but I won't chance a noisy install.

 

[arcwcb]

Yeah, that's true, it is pretty subjective. I guess I just don't want anything that will make people I drive by look at my car and wonder what the f**k is wrong with it lol. If it's got a VERY slight wine, I'll take that for the extra gear to help the cams, but if it's pretty noticeable, then I wouldn't be able to stand it.

 

[GOLDENPONY]

Is there any particular reason you don't want the Ford gears? If the 4.10s are too much for your purpose, 3.73 is a good compromise. I had 3.73s in a 2000 GT and it was a great ratio for most all types of driving. 3.73 is very close to 3.89.

 

[arcwcb]

Oh no, I have nothing against FRPP stuff. In fact, most of my future mods are all FRPP, I'm just thinking I'd like that little extra kick down low, since I run a slightly larger diameter tire on my street tires. Plus, that little extra gear would help get the cams into the power band a hair faster. I figure if I'm going to do it, I might as well get the most performance that I can, and I've seen a lot of cars run 3.90's and blowers, so I won't have to change out the rear once that goes on. So yeah, if Ford made a 3.90, I'd already have ordered them lol but since they don't and I don't think the jump up to 3.73's would be worth it if I could get more gear, I figured I'd shop around, see what else was offered.

 

[gmantheman]

I was going suggest 4.10s and a taller tire but there aren't too many 20" tires that have an OD of at least 28" unless you want to pay $400 per. tire.