Gearing and arb front average cost?

Getting ready to gear my truck and add a front arb locker. I don't currently have a hard mounted air compressor but I do have a smitty built air compressor that can be hard mounted.

Mainly curious as to what guys have paid for similar modifications to see what I should expect to pay before getting quotes.

Also anything I should watch out for in the quotes like cheap gears that will most likely break and have a pita getting warrantied and what not.

Pretty set on going with arb for the locker due to their good track record for reliability

 

Call ECGS (East Coast Gear Supply). They have a fantastic swap program. They build you a set of Diffs to your specs, charge you a core, and send you the new Diffs. You swap them out and return your cores.

Cheapest way to do it. Still pricey though. I did 4.56's with ARB's front and rear, with the small compressor. It was right around 3K.

Labor to have the Diffs swapped and the compressor installed is going to add hundreds to the price if you don't want to do it yourself.

The nice thing about ECGS is that they don't charge any extra labor to install the lockers while building the Diffs. They also give you a break on the price of the ARB's

 

Hey bud. I have a 4.88 nitro gears and a rear ARB locker. I had ECGS build the diffs for me and ship them to me. I installed the diffs myself and sent the cores back. I paid $3100 for everything but got $800 back after sending my cores back to them. So all in all for front and rear gears plus an ARB locker, I paid $2300 with installing the diffs myself. You could go through ECGS or "Just differentials" and probably get the same deal. If you have ECGS build the diff for you, the locker will cost you $850 as an option instead of $1050 MSRP. I think it's totally worth it. If you do decide to go with the ARB locker you won't regret it! It's amazing!! Let me know if that answers your questions.

 

if you're only doing a front locker subtract $900 from what I said above.

 

I'm planning on doing 4.56s I have 33s now and planning on doing 34s or possibly 35s when these tires wear out with an end game plan of 37s when this truck is no longer a dd. But long before I get to 37s I plan on doing dual transfer cases with stock and 4.7 drive so I think 4.56s will work for now and long term.

I have never done gears myself so I don't feel comfortable risking installing such expensive parts wrong and messing it up so I will be looking at paying a shop to do it for warranty reasons.

From what you guys are saying I should expect to pay around 3500 to 4k parts and labor? Or more?

 

All you are doing is unbolting the 3rd member/clamshell and bolting the new one up. ECGS has everything already set up. Super easy. It would be hard to mess something up.

 

Doing the gears yourself is the tough part. Leave that to ECGS. Installing the fully built diffs is easy. The front diff is slightly time consuming but you won't mess anything up cuz the gears are already installed. If you still don't feel comfortable with that, then I would say you're probably right about the price. $3500 to $4000 including installation and after sending your cores back to ECGS

 

I thought you had to shim and do measurements to get everything perfect? Was also told you had to pull axles to get the rear third member out?

 

ECGS does all that. All you do is unbolt, remove, replace. It really is easy. I had never done either and I did them by myself without any problems.


Read through this thread: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...d-installation-of-e-locker-3rd-member.193828/

 

Did anyone here take any pictures of the process so I can have an idea as to what I'd be getting myself into if I did it myself?

 

Or maybe a link with pictures or link to a good YouTube video so I have an idea as to what I would need to do

 

With the 3rd member you just have to slide the axles out slightly on each side. Pretty easy. With the front it's a little harder but there are some instructions on TW somewhere and it's pretty straight forward. Undoing bolts and installing it back in

 

Here is the instructions for the 3rd member. I'll find you instructions for the front as well

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...allation-of-e-locker-3rd-member.193828/page-5

 

Here is the write up for the front

http://eastcoastgearsupply.com/files/PDF Files/clamshell-removal.pdf

 

Thanks sounds doable but still possibly worth it to pay someone else to do it for the right price. This gives me a good idea of everything.

 

Totally up to you. Read through these a couple times and feel it out. After that if you feel comfortable then go for it and grab a buddy to help you through the whole thing cuz this stuff ain't light and you'll want the help. You'll save yourself over $1000 doing it yourself but totally understand if it feels iffy to you. At that point you can make your decision on whether to pay someone else to do it, or do it yourself.

 

I know how you feel. The rear is easy, so I wasn't worried about doing it at all. I was a bit nervous about doing the front, especially by myself. I had never pulled the CV axles and wasn't too sure about doing it. I finally worked up the nerve and it turned out to be easier than I thought. I'm glad I did it myself.

 

That seems to be the way it normally goes for me. Things I expect to be hard go smooth and then the things that should be easy don't.

 

The only hard part with the front is physically reinstalling the diff.

 

A little off subject but I was recently quoted $1800 by ECGS to install 4.88s front and rear on my truck. I have basically no need for lockers but wouldn't mind having at least one in the rear. Are there any good options besides ARB? Also, how much do y'all think could be saved if I did the labor myself?