Extremely Cheap! 5.29 gears. Motive gears OK?

Which scammers are you referring to? Was the Amazon buy a scam?

 

Don’t cheap on bearings, buy the Koyo’s OEM

 

The Nitro gears aren't all that great to begin with. If I needed gears again right now I'd easily buy Motives for this price! Plus OEM parts to piece together a master install kit.

 

No, I’m just being facetious. Mine are arriving tomorrow being seemingly drop shipped from the manufacturer so I’ll report back if they’re made from a soft cheese or not.

 

I was just about to pull the trigger then I saw the rears went to to $176. Order paused

 

Well, original price is like 450+ so you’re still getting a steal. They went from 120 to 308, now apparently back down to 176. Waiting for it to drop to 120 again could be a gamble.

 

Whut. The cheapest I’ve found so far is Yukon Gear and Axle on sale for $480 per diff

 

How much are the master kits? My best guesstimate is $400 if you source/piece everything yourself. Someone in the aftermarket must offer just the shim kit. Gear installs has all the shim part numbers, some bearings, too. http://www.gearinstalls.com/bearing.htm

 

Parts direct from Japan are incredibly inexpensive when compared to what we pay in the US.

 

Zuk can get genuine Toyota bearings/ seals, etc. for a very good price. @memario1214 might be able to help you with ordering e-lockers. If you can swap cores yourself and take a little vacation, I recommend the drive down to him. Zuk's email is on his website at http://www.gearinstalls.com/

 

Seems to me that the prices are around $520 rear and $450 front for the master kits.

I can get the bearing kits which include everything the master kit has minus carrier shims, pinion shims and ring gear bolts for $315 rear and $250 front with koyo bearings.

 

Yeah I think 12 hours one way might be pushing it a little unfortunately. A lot of the offroad folks around here go to Drew at Evolution Offroad, which is less than 20 minutes from my house. He has an extremely good reputation in the Colorado wheelin community. Now if I was closer to Zuk, then that would be a no brainer

 

done it too, but was more of I didn't know if the site was legit so was iffy on sharing.
when I got my nitro front&rear master kits back in Jan 2021, it took a bit of google-fu to land on a decent deal but had never heard of the site. ended up getting the front master kit for about 286 and the rear master kit for about 319, no tax+free shipping. turns out site was good and the kits came straight from nitro but by the time I was going to share deal was dead.

 

All parts for front and rear - bearings, crush sleeve, pinion seals, ring gear bolts, pinion gear nuts will run about $310 + shipping. You need rtv, marking compound, thread locker, and shims.

 

ECGS isn't bad. Has everything you need less ring gear bolts.
https://eastcoastgearsupply.com/i-18964353-toyota-tundra-t10-5-master-kit-07-5-7l-rear.html
https://eastcoastgearsupply.com/i-18979367-toyota-9-ifs-master-install-kit.html

 

Maybe somebody should put together a parts list…

Wait, you guys are a horrible influence!

 

The only achilles to the ARB locker is the O ring. In the install instructions it states very clear that the installer needs to be VERY careful installing the O ring so that it doesn’t get folded over or rolled. If the O ring is installed correctly, then the ARB is very reliable. I’ve had four ARBs. I had one leak once about 20 years ago, but luckily for me it was covered by a warranty. I like to replace the plastic air lines with fancy stainless steel braided -3 teflon lined hose (same thing as aftermarket brake lines).

 

Possibly the quality control was better at some point in time? Few of my buddies run them, it’s like 50/50 if they work when needed. It’s fun for me though, get to ask over the radio if their maybe/probably not locker engages.

http://www.gearinstalls.com/arb.htm

 

Yeah it seems like people are pretty split about their reliability. I guess the only thing that the Eaton locker has against it is price and possibly a relay burning out. At least in Zuk’s article he points out a common fail point (proper vs improper brazing), which could help alleviate some reliability woes if it’s properly inspected before installation. I’m going to talk to the guys who I plan on taking the diffs to for installation to pick his brain about it. If he’s confident in his ability to install an air locker to be reliable, then I’d trust his judgment.

 

I can’t argue against that point^^^.

That copper line can also be a problem point if it’s overworked during the initial installation. If i ever install some sort of traction device in the rear of my 04 tundra, i’d most likely go with an ARB. I currently have quite a few different lockers and LSDs in my various vehicles; two Detroit No-Spins, two ARBs, one E Locker, two Tru-Tracs, two full spools, and a Dana Powr-Lok (i had it assembled to be waaay more aggressive than a Tru trac). I used to have a couple Lock Right lunchbox lockers and a few worn out useless Dana Track Loks.

One of my friends used to work at 4 Whee Parts for years and years, and he was the guy who did the R&P installations. He’s lucky that he’s my friend so that i can help keep his R&P install skills on point by letting him work on my junk. To be fair though, i’ve always just removed the axle housing (or 3rd member) from the trucks (or jeep), clean the inside and out really well, and hand deliver it over to his shop. I’m pretty sure he likes it when he doesn’t have to work on dirty greasy auto parts.

 

I degreased my cores as best I could, and dropped them off with a bag of rags.
I just thought Zuk further degreased them, but he actually painted them black as well!

 

Price came back down for 5.29s... ~$230 for front and rear...

 

If you're not near Zuk, with the money you've saved you could aquire some tools and do it yourself and then omit labor cost too! It's not easy but that's what I did on my white truck.

Kinda makes me want to regear stock old man tan to 4.88 just because I have a spare low mile rear carrier I've been saving for it..... hmmmm.... opens Amazon. Just to "check" current prices....

 

Yeah In a perfect world I'd spick up spare front and rear diffs and do the whole thing myself over a couple days. I've read your write up (awesome job by the way), and it seems like once you tear into the diffs and understand what's going on then it's just a matter of patience and getting the correct shims. If I come across a good deal then that'll probably be the route.

 

Since there is so much attention on this thread, is there any installer the Tundra brethren recommend who is located within 5 hours of Nashville? I called all the places in the city who do this…seems like they all do Jeeps and domestics. One is a chain that had to rebrand because they were so bad to so many customers, and one other guy—who has great reviews—said he’s interested but has never worked on Toyotas and would have to read up on the Tundra. I’m not exactly interested in being a guinea pig.

Feels like I’m in a Toyota black hole. I’m an 8-hr drive from ECGS. Zuk sounds awesome but is probably a 24+ hr drive for me lol.

 

Another option is to buy fully built diffs from ECGS and find a mechanic willing to just swap in the fully built diffs. Might open up your options.

 

Does ECGS do 2nd Gen diffs for swaps? They don't have it on their website.

 

Shoot, didn't check for 2nd gens and was thinking off the top of my head. I would call them up and ask.

 

That would be sick if they did! Anyone with a 1GT, FJ, 4Runner, or Taco thats a no brainer

 

It’s not flying rockets. A competent installer should be fine, but the problem is having the correct shims at a shop that does not install Toyota gears. The shims that come in the install kit and the used ones will likely get it close enough…

Picture of my gear installers shim collection for the rear differential solid pinion spacer