Posted by Charlie on October 08, 1999 at 13:49:35:
In Reply to: ring & pinion posted by R. Smith on October 07, 1999 at 21:48:52:
1) 5.83 gears, used, serviceable - just the gears, no bearings etc. - should be cheap, maybe $100-150 a set if you call around. Try Bob Stahl at Veteran Vehicles. A full set of diff bearings is now >$400.
2) 4.89s are $318/set
3) A complete take-out 5.83 3rd member should be ~$4-500 + freight. The only difference between PW/late 3/4 ton WC and M37 is the drive yoke.
4) I just finished a gearing change to a WC53 Carryall. I put 4.89s with dual Lockrights and 37X12.5R16.5 Michelins on (Hummer prototypes, actually ~35.9" with wear). The ride is excellent, and somewhat surprisingly the motor has power to pull the tires and gears. Moral of the story: if you have a strong 230 flathead with no problems (no, this is not a diesel conversion - yet) it will perform well on the street with 4.89s, even with slightly oversized tires. If your motor is sick, as many seem to be, the sickness will get worse. My experience from the M37 is that 4.89 vs. 5.83 makes virtually no difference with a 2 speed transfer case in low 1st.
5) It is a very difficult diff to do properly for 2 reasons - the 3 bearing pinion gear is tricky to preload correctly, and the closed carrier is hard to take apart and re-assemble in such a way that little pieces like drift pins don't fly out later on. And those bearings have gotten so expensive. So if you just want 5.83s with open diff, look for a good takeout. If you want 4.89s, fine, but order a Lockright so you only need to pay for tearing into the thing once.
Charlie