Changing rear ratios

Drivetrain discussion including Transmission, Differential, Driveshaft, and related items.
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elc32955
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Re: Changing rear ratios

Post by elc32955 »

Yep. I'm guessing the capacity is probably slightly larger with the Camaro pumpkin based on the larger housing size, the service writer did tell me it would take two bottles of the lube for a complete fill. Probably actually one bottle plus the friction additive plus whatever small amount is left over out of a second bottle since they'll have to pop the seal on another one.

Good info here in this thread. I did look back at the pics I posted in this thread the day after the swap, in one of the pics you can clearly see the ZF logo as you pointed out Paul. Just don't remember which unit it was of, based on where we were in the swap when I snapped the pic.... :)
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Re: Changing rear ratios

Post by Navy Lifer »

writeup with lots of pix on DIY rear suspension bushing & 3.91gear swap from camaro5.com:
http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=289431" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

gear swap starts with post #15
http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showpost. ... stcount=15" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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elc32955
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Re: Changing rear ratios

Post by elc32955 »

Nice writeup and pics.... all except the bottle of Royal Purple gear oil that I saw there. Hope he doesn't have the same issues I do... lol....
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Re: Changing rear ratios

Post by elc32955 »

I forgot to post a close on the thread... sorry about that.... Anyway, after the gear oil change to the GM OEM fluid and 86'ing the Royal Purple, the rear end noise went away almost instantly. The dealer didn't do the obligatory break-in routine but just a drain, dump-n-shove.... so I ended up going around in circles in Wal-Mart's parking lot for about 10 minutes until the lube worked well in and the noise quit. Been fine since though.

So... moral of the story..... do NOT under any circumstances deviate from the GM-prescribed lubricant in the diffs of these cars.

Eric
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Re: Changing rear ratios

Post by elc32955 »

Just some more follow-up, I was coming back from Kissimmee early this afternoon on a long, flat, straight road in the middle of a bunch of remote farmland with no one else around and decided to try the performance characteristics of the rear.. heh heh...

I can tell you now without a doubt that the 3.45 rear should have been put in every 6.0 Caprice patrol car made. The 5-6 shift under WOT in sport/performance mode with my tune finally took place at 149, and it didn't take all that long to get there :) I had to let off it before topping out when I was getting ready to come up on a slight hill that I couldn't see the other side of. But compared to the feel of the 2.92, yep, definite performance improvement.
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Re: Changing rear ratios

Post by GTPprix »

Agreed, I bet fleet fuel economy was an issue though hehe
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elc32955
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Re: Changing rear ratios

Post by elc32955 »

Not to CPR a dead thread, but there's been some recent additional interest in the rear swaps and the physical size differences on the pumpkins from the Camaro SS with 3.45 manual, so I'm just posting another pic I took back when my swap was done for clarification. The Camaro pumpkin is noticeably beefier!

Eric
diff21.JPG
diff21.JPG (339.49 KiB) Viewed 19359 times
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Re: Changing rear ratios

Post by KKARSTEN »

Good thread. I'm pretty sure this swap is in the future for my car.
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Re: Changing rear ratios

Post by No Moa »

Yes a future swap for me also.
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Re: Changing rear ratios

Post by Silversled »

This is a great thread. I'll be going to 3.27 gears since I'm expecting to go with an LSA blower. Also the 3.27s are a lot cheaper on the used market.
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