Lynx331 said:
how much do you think it would cost to get 3.73's installed and the rear end rebuilt as well? I have 130,000 miles on mine, and its 1 tire fire, occasionally with the driver side tire breaking loose.
Probably the normal $200 for parts and the $300 for labor. But going through a rear-end thoroughly is a different deal. Replacing those wheel bearings is a heck of a job as is the carrier bearings. My guess is about $1000 for the gears, installation kit and install of the gears, rebuild of the axle with new bearings pressed in, and rebuild of the traction lock and including labor.
On the original topic, lower gearing will basically transfer the "stress" on your entire drivetrain from the engine to the rear wheels and rear
suspension componenets. It's like the mountain bike theory, your legs are the engine and is what is working hard in that 5th gear to get up that hill and all that stress placed upon your chain would be the rear
suspension. The less the car is able to move with more power added from the engine, then the more stress and bind you create - that force right there is what blows a tranny or the rear-end. Lowering gearing will alleviate that stress with regards to one condition, if all that extra "gear torque" that has been newly mulitplied at a greater level on the wheels is allowed to be transfered to the ground and therefore get the car moving. If the wheels don't turn freely (for example: the use of extra sticky slicks and some great power-transferring
control arms) then you have that much more stress on your drivetrain with a destructive force waiting to break something. The entire reason for such components breaking (for those nonbelievers) is because you have all this built up force in a bind looking for a place to go - where it goes is the weakest point in the drivetrain. Once it finds it, if the force is great enough (and not released yet by the wheels turning fast enough to relieve the amount of force it needs to) it will break that component in the process of trying to release this built up energy/force somewhere but not where it is supposed to (the wheels and then to the ground).
Hope that is a simple enough explanation, sorry for the long post.