3.45 or 3.54

[tzoid]

I went thru this same question when I got mine done a couple of years ago on my '99 GTS. Had mine done at Unitrax with the Super Dana gear set. Not sure anybody alive could tell the difference seat of the pants wise on 3.45's vs. 3.55's. Mine are 3.55's and I love 'em.

 

[Marc Lublin]

Good info, you can get either. When I was younger and learing to work on cars my father always told me, "the best bang for the buck is a rear end". Go 3.55 or if you are not planning to take it to the strip go 3.73

 

[GRAPE]

Well my decision made itself today. Bought a factory Dana 3.45 new in the box with bearings and pinion seal for $175. I didn't argue to much on the price as you can imagine. I kept trying not to act too excited, none of the guys had anyone buy just a ring and pinion before and the boss wasn't there.

 

[Snakester]

Congratulations.

That's less than half of the price I paid for the 3.55 gears (and speedo box) that I bought a week ago.

The one thing to double check is that the gears are Viper gears.

I had a Corvette before and had upgraded from the stock 3.42 gears to 4.10 gears and I made sure that they were Viper gears that I installed. I had read that the Viper gears were hardened (shot peened?) compared to the stock Corvette gear sets.

-Dean.

 

[GRAPE]

Which one is better for a bone stock car, not planning on any other modifications. Are both ratios really available or am i recieving bad info?

 

[Anthony - 98 GTS]

Stock - I would go with the 3.55.

 

[Jack B]

The Gen I cars had the Dana 44's, the Gen II's have the Dana Super 44's. If you look in Summit or Jegs, the Dana 44's for the low torque cars are 170-180, you may not have the right gears.

 

[GRAPE]

That's good info, thanks, but for the price we will see how long it will last just for giggles.

 

[tzoid]

Grape....To each his own, I guess, but you may want to re-think your comment. Assuming this Viper is your pride and joy, I'd check those gears you got such a good deal on. At your price, bet they're Dana 44's. That gear set will indeed fit a Viper but it's designed and actually manufactured by Dana for 4 and 6 cyl. Jeeps. That comment comes directly from Dana's head design engineer. Because of the D/C politics and relationship with Dana, they can not market a gear set for the Viper, but this same engineer told me you'd best better run the Super 44's or be looking real quick for a bad case of the come aparts soon after you jump on it. Your NOT saving any money at $175 or whatever the price was.....your choice, however.

 

[Snakester]

I'm not sure that it's really that bad with the regular Dana 44s.

Both the Gen I Vipers and regular Corvettes use the regular Dana 44s and do fine. I had nitrous installed in my Corvette (440HP)with it's orginial 3.42 Dana 44 gears, and had no problems even with many drag racing events.

I worried more about the clutch than the differential breaking.

And the Gen I Vipers have nearly the same torque as our Gen II cars, so the normal Dana 44 should be OK as long as it isn't abused.

-Dean.

 

[GRAPE]

I'll post picks when it explodes, should be interesting.