Nothing was directed toward your posts, so dont get your panties in a bunch! And as far as protecting myself, what the @#$% do you think I am doing by seeking advice from all different angles. I hope I didn't hurt YOUR feelings.......[laugh]

I thought the carrier break was going from the 3.73's to 4.10's. Could be wrong.
Call these guys. They know rears![laugh]
http://www.ringpinion.com/

Will do! Thanks. Thats a great site!

It sounds like they will be closed for the holiday season until Monday.

Shop foreman is lying thru his teeth, Period. The 3.42's just became available this year for the AAM 11.5 axle, before that the highest was 3.73.

The several perople I know never had any machining done to swap to the 3.42's. The 3.08's WOULD require maching or a different carrier IF they were available. Thats all Dana info he's spouting.

Go back and tell him to reasearch what he's talking about then figure out if they will make it right for you. Obviously if you paid whats right for one axle then you should have to pay for the other axle. You know what the bill was so that syour decision to make.

Thats really what I need to figure out, is if they charged me for both gear sets and not just one. One little problem is that my reciept does not list individual parts. YES, people, I know, I know, thats a bad thing and it should have been straightened out when the vehicle was picked up. BUT, i was given a quote for a gear change in both the front and rear and the bill was very close to it, so I didn't worry. Lesson learned on my part, so there is no need to post about how I screwed up, people.

The big issue is that I did not AT ANY POINT express that I only wanted the rear ratio changed, and this is something that any shop should discuss at length if that was the case. In fact, I was surprised that this shop did in some cases install mismatched gears, but it should have still been very clear to them that I do not have a beat up 1983 Chevy farm pickup and I don't want my ride cobbled together. I could have broken the living crap out of something, since I did not know that the ratios were mismatched![verymad][verymad]

From what I have gathered here, it sounds like the shop might be joshing me around in an effort to save themselves the most money (while appearing to be honest) in this ordeal. I have to try to get to the bottom of this.

I sent AAM an email.

Well, it will take a while to untangle my panties.... [coffee]

I can see how this would happen.... Now you sit with a screwed up truck and they hold the cards... Maybe drop hints about your psycho brother that is getting out of prison next week after doing 15 years for killing the checkout girls because she rang up your groceries wrong.... [laugh]

That might work![coffee]

Well I am no expert on gear changes, but I did do some investigating when I first got my truck about switching to 3.42 gears. When they first came out they were only available for the rear diff. Then they came out with gears for the front, but they required either a spacer or a new carrier. If I recall correctly it was about $3K - $4K to get both axles done parts and labor. I didn't have that kind of cash available so I never pursued it further. If you're estimate was for that much and says both then they owe you a front diff change. If not you may be up the stream. I also NEVER read about any machining needed for the rear carrier to use the 3.42 gears. Good luck and keep us posted.

Not yet.
thats great info, sounds like i'll get done in a lot cheaper
thanks

and i should add, MJDiesel as longlake said: never intended or blasted you, its just that my blood boils when i see crooks taking undue advantage and making a mockery out of a simple swap and then not admitting it.

The last time that I talked to them, they were trying to figure out how to get the front 3.42s. They were talking about trying to find an entire frontend from an 07+ model. I would really prefer to just get my 3.73 rears back, but they claim that they cannot do that, since they machined the carrier. Of course, It doesn't sound like they needed to do that. I don't know

If it really does take 3-4K to change the front and rear, then I probably only paid for one. It would be nice if they would have figured this out beforehand. I think that they did not know what the swap would actually need when I recieved the quote.

A radio station I listen to called an auto repair shop and asked how much it would cost for a fallopian tube and how long it would take to replace it. The guy on the phone wasn't sure but the boss was familiar with the procedure. The DJ asked if the fallopian tube was a return line to the fuel tank and the guy told him yes it was.

I wish they had said the name of the shop so the people that listened to the station would know not to go there for anything.

. . [laugh]

Wow it was not that long ago that I read some where or talked to someone that it would cost $2500 to switch over both front and rear gears to 3.24, so now reading its cost $4,000 makes one wonder what to believe.

Cost for conversion
 

break it down into simplicity:

Gears - $399 X 2 (front and rear) additional $250 if you want new axle bearings / seal / etc.
Labor - $500 X 2 (front and rear)
Misc - gear lube

That ends up being less than $2000 for complete change, front and rear.