Rear Gears - Summit vs. Richmond
 

I'm currently running a 3.73 rear gear in my GM 8.5 10 bolt with a Turbo 350 trans. I'd like to swap these gears out for something closer to 3.23 .... my daily commute is 60 miles each way and I want to drop my rpms a bit to make this an enjoyable drive.

My question is in regard to quality ... the Summit Racing gears (and install kit) are significantly more affordable than the Richmond gears (and install kit). Is this an example of 'you get what you pay for'? How do the Summit gears compare, and will I be happy with them?

Thanks

The thing with Summit brand parts is one of that one of summits name brand places makes their brand. There is a decent chance Summits ARE Richmond (or motive).

That thought crossed my mind. But I thought that I would toss it out here and see what insights I get.

I bought a brake proportioning valve a few years ago that is a summit brand, when I got it I took the summit sticker off 7 it was a Wilwood part.

When I bought my gears I called Drivetrain Specialists who I've had good luck with before. They said they've had the best luck with Motive's "Performance" line. These are a little more $$ than the regular Motive sets you get at Summit and Jegs. Not on the road yet but the setup was easy and the pattern is spot on.

Good luck with any of them. With aftermarket gears it is a hit and miss on whether they will be whisper quiet or not. Most of the time you can hear them. :mad:

This is such a true statement... I just went thru 3 sets of Ring N pinions from Motive Gear in the last two months on the blue Camaro..

I just ordered 5 sets of US Gears for my shelf..

Richmond got bought out by Motive Gear.. 3 months ago..

Motive has three different places that their gears are made Italy, India, and china. Strange, Currie sell motive Italy gears sets. I just went through this yesterday and called to find out were they were made. Strange said it would be either US gear or Italy Motive just depended on availability. US gear doesn't supply them on a regular basis. I guess if Currie and Strange are using them I'm going to give them a try.

I've run different ratio Motive pro gears and street gears in my race car with no issues for years

So here's a more important question that which brand....


Have you done the calculations required to see exactly where you'd be with different ratios.

My experience is that you can drop ratio and get WORSE gas milage because you're too far out of the torque band of the engine/cam combo. This can happen with rear end gear change or a transmission gear change.

My "info" has always been that you want to be CRUISING at (pick a speed - 60 /65/70 mph) about 200 RPMS UNDER where your cam starts to make torque. Anything farther out than that and the motor is lugging - and wastes fuel.

There's a point at which the carb (air flow) is pulling in enough air and it get properly atomized etc... so it's not just all about rear gears.

Just talking out loud here. I'm no expert - but I have experienced the exact opposite of what I was trying to achieve!