so my truck is stuck in the driveway, rear end took a dive a couple of days ago. i haven't pulled the diff cover off yet to verify, but from the symptoms, my mechanic said i probably sheared a couple of teeth off the gears. so now i need some advice from some guys more experienced than i am. i figure i have 3 different options.
my truck is on 37's but still running the factory 3.73's (i know, i know). option 1 would be to pay a shop to rebuild it with factory gears. i'm mechanically inclined, but no professional by anyone's definition. i can do some stuff, but i don't have the tools or the knowledge to change out gears. i wanna learn, but i don't wanna practice on my dd and screw something up.
option 2 is to regear. i've wanted to do that for a while but never had the 2k laying around to do front and rear. and i still don't. so i would have to do just the rear and 4wd would be unusable until i did the front.
option 3 is to find a whole axle and just bolt it in. that would be easier mechanically so i could do that myself and an axle would probably be cheaper than paying a shop to do the gears. and i'd also have a spare axle to learn on and i could build it like i want (new gears, locker, and disc brakes) and put it back under the truck later. only thing i'm worried about here is that the axle i buy could be in as bad of shape as mine and may go out on me soon. i checked lkq here locally because i was told that they inspect the parts pretty well before selling them, but my local lkq doesn't have the 4wd axle right now.
thats pretty much where im at. i don't have a ton of money so im trying to do it economically but also do it right. i don't really take my truck offroad, its more of a lifted street queen to be honest. i've used 4wd about 5 times in the last 2 years, and 4 of those times were just because i could lol. just hoping to get some insight or advice that may help me make a decision on what to do. either way, i gotta get it back on the road pretty soon, this bumming rides to work sucks.
also, if i decide to buy a whole new axle and bolt it in, are there any other models that would work without heavy modification. i'm assuming lkq's search engine looks at all parts that would fit my application, but i just searched a 97 tahoe 4wd with the 3.73 gear ratio and there were none. any other models that i could search? i really appreciate all the help. i'm pretty new to gears and axles so any help would be awesome. thanks guys!
my truck is on 37's but still running the factory 3.73's (i know, i know). option 1 would be to pay a shop to rebuild it with factory gears. i'm mechanically inclined, but no professional by anyone's definition. i can do some stuff, but i don't have the tools or the knowledge to change out gears. i wanna learn, but i don't wanna practice on my dd and screw something up.
option 2 is to regear. i've wanted to do that for a while but never had the 2k laying around to do front and rear. and i still don't. so i would have to do just the rear and 4wd would be unusable until i did the front.
option 3 is to find a whole axle and just bolt it in. that would be easier mechanically so i could do that myself and an axle would probably be cheaper than paying a shop to do the gears. and i'd also have a spare axle to learn on and i could build it like i want (new gears, locker, and disc brakes) and put it back under the truck later. only thing i'm worried about here is that the axle i buy could be in as bad of shape as mine and may go out on me soon. i checked lkq here locally because i was told that they inspect the parts pretty well before selling them, but my local lkq doesn't have the 4wd axle right now.
thats pretty much where im at. i don't have a ton of money so im trying to do it economically but also do it right. i don't really take my truck offroad, its more of a lifted street queen to be honest. i've used 4wd about 5 times in the last 2 years, and 4 of those times were just because i could lol. just hoping to get some insight or advice that may help me make a decision on what to do. either way, i gotta get it back on the road pretty soon, this bumming rides to work sucks.
also, if i decide to buy a whole new axle and bolt it in, are there any other models that would work without heavy modification. i'm assuming lkq's search engine looks at all parts that would fit my application, but i just searched a 97 tahoe 4wd with the 3.73 gear ratio and there were none. any other models that i could search? i really appreciate all the help. i'm pretty new to gears and axles so any help would be awesome. thanks guys!