Blew out my spider gears today got questions.

[Burmanater]

So I was being a little rough on the factory 10 bolt in my 84 2wd c10 and it chucked the spider gears. They were worse for wear anyways but as they went the did a number on the carrier also. The spiders may have gone because the lock bolt for the center shaft snapped in 2 places also. Luckily the ring and pinion were not harmed. Could use a pinion bearing in the future though.

I pulled the gears out of my parts truck and have yet to swap the carriers and spiders as the I don't have an impact or breaker bar strong enough to get the factory bolts off either ring gear. I want to keep my factory 2.56 gears vs. the 3.08s from my parts truck. With my th350 the sweet spot is 65 right where I want it.

I do have a question regarding the 10 bolts found in g bodies and 6 lug 10 bolts found in half ton 4x4s. Will a posi unit from one of these work in my 10 bolt? I know there is a 28 and 30 spline but other than that I have not heard of any other differences. Besides width, axles, and brake assemblies. Any help would be appreciated.

[BADAZ chevy guy]

I wouldn't trust that your ring and pinion gears made it through that unscathed. At the very leased I would have them magnafluxed to check for cracks.

[Burmanater]

Well I can either stick with trying to find good used gears or using what I have cause I don't know of any American companies gears here in the states anymore. Richmond are made in india or something like that now. I wont buy the Chinese summit brand. If you can point me to an American made gearset I'll look into it. As far as I can see though they came out fine. Not even chips on the teeth.

[BADAZ chevy guy]

Originally Posted by Burmanater

Well I can either stick with trying to find good used gears or using what I have cause I don't know of any American companies gears here in the states anymore. Richmond are made in india or something like that now. I wont buy the Chinese summit brand. If you can point me to an American made gearset I'll look into it. As far as I can see though they came out fine. Not even chips on the teeth.

I understand your wanting to stick with American made gears. All I'm suggesting is that you make sure your gears are not damaged before you spend money putting your diff back together. Cracks are often not visible to the naked eye.

[andrewmp6]

Not all 10 bolts are the same,The g body used a 7.5 inch ring gear but for the gn and 442 used a 8.5,The truck 10 bolt used a 8.5 ring gear.Only american made gears i know of is us gear.

[Axle]

You can buy spiders and a cross pin from a driveline shop. Grenaded a spider in my truck years ago, still going, and I am by no means gentle with the go pedal.
Count your splines, measure the diameter of your axle shaft, measure the diameter of you ring gear, and bring the better of one of your spiders along for visual confirmation.

Alex.

[Burmanater]

I figured the G body rear ends were out of the question but what about the 6 lug half ton 4x4 10 bolts? I would have them checked but this is my DD and I've got to get it back together by tomorrow.

I just pulled the pin and spiders from my parts truck. The spiders from my truck are in about 6 to 8 pieces and the pin had to be torched out cause it was bent and had a lot of metal from the spiders fused to it due to poor lube. Where the spiders rid the carrier was all chewed up and that pin for shaft broke twice too.

Thanks for pointing out US Gear I forgot about them. I will be swapping the ring and pinion soon anyways to get the gears I really want when I either get either the Saginaw 4 speed off my buddy or do a 700r4 swap. Right now I've got a th350 but I've got a parts 2wd c10 with the sm465 granny geared 4 speed. I just have to decide If I want stick or auto?

[mrolds88]

I would put a new carrier in too. You never know what twisted and pushed in there when it went. In 90 or 91 they went to 31 spline axles so the side gears won't work in your rear. Many of the full size GM cars also used the 8.5 10 bolt too. Might want to look at some of them too for gears. But be careful there too as not all 10 bolt GM big car rears aren't the same either. Try to stay with Impalas and you should be good.

[Burmanater]

Well I go everything back together but I had to reuse the old carrier we cleaned it up as best we could. It's a temporary deal as I'm either going to build another 8.5 10 bolt or do a 9 inch swap cause if I want my truck as low as it is now I need to weld the spring perches anyways for the over axle conversion. But for now it runs good down the road with no hums or growls. As long as I can get back and forth to work I'm good.