Nitro Gears - Alternatives? (1 Viewer)

[ElJayBird]

I was talking to my local 4x shop about getting new gears and asked about Nitro. He said ‘install anything but Nitro - we’re swapping them out all the time because customers bring them in for gear whine’.

What other options are out there? The only ones that I’ve found for the 200 are Nitro.

 

[TeCKis300]

I assume this is for your pre-16 LC? There are factory gearsets up to 4.3. What are your tire size goals?

 

[ElJayBird]

I assume this is for your pre-16 LC? There are factory gearsets up to 4.3. What are your tire size goals?

Right - for my 2014

I mentioned that Tundra gears will work to him but he just shrugged. Are the Tundra gears just drop in? Any how-to’s I could send to the shop?

I’m on 34’s and won’t go any larger - I tow about 2k lbs pretty regularly.

 

[TeCKis300]

Right - for my 2014

I mentioned that Tundra gears will work to him but he just shrugged. Are the Tundra gears just drop in? Any how-to’s I could send to the shop?

I’m on 34’s and won’t go any larger - I tow about 2k lbs pretty regularly.

Everything you'll want to know for 4.3s is in the link below. It should be a great ratio for 34s, about 10% better overall gearing than you have now. Or about 3% more aggressive than factory gearing on factory sized tires. For context, I run 4.3s with 35s, towing 8k, and don't want for more gear.

DIY 4.3 Re-Gear

Still in the early stages and I could use some recommendations on differential install kits/parts. I've got the keystone pieces in the garage as I attempt to collect the ancillary parts before I rip into the car. Planning a 4.3 re-gear with rear only Harrop e-locker. Locker is less of a...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[bloc]

If you want to go past 4.3 there are deeper gears available internationally, but it won't be nearly as cheap.

 

[OffRoadScott]

Revolution Gear and Axle I have heard that they can do the polishing process for you prior to shipping. Zuk the renowned differential installer recommended these gears on someone recent install. Zuk has done thousands of 3rds for people and knows his stuff, unfortunately he has retired and does limited installs.

 

[grinchy]

No issue with whining on nitro 4.88s for me.
I only have around 25k on them though.
Setup is extremely important with gears.

I thought I did have some gear whine, but a tranny fluid full exchange fixed that.

 

[clrussell]

My nitro 4.88 have gear whine. I pulled the front diff for new bearings and did that. Going back together I found excessive backlash, so my noise isn’t going away without a new set of front gears.

It’s not nitros fault, installation error.

Also mine have about 75k on them.

 

[dubyahard]

I was talking to my local 4x shop about getting new gears and asked about Nitro. He said ‘install anything but Nitro - we’re swapping them out all the time because customers bring them in for gear whine’.

What other options are out there? The only ones that I’ve found for the 200 are Nitro.

The shop I had do my gears said pretty much the same thing. They only do Revolution/Yukon gears. No whine here and I have about 5k on them so far.

 

[ElJayBird]

Awesome - thanks for the feedback everyone

 

[Zjohnsonua]

Right - for my 2014

I mentioned that Tundra gears will work to him but he just shrugged. Are the Tundra gears just drop in? Any how-to’s I could send to the shop?

I’m on 34’s and won’t go any larger - I tow about 2k lbs pretty regularly.

Tundra parts only solve part of your problem as they use a 10.5" rear instead of the 9.5".

 

[lx200inAR]

Tundra parts only solve part of your problem as they use a 10.5" rear instead of the 9.5".

There was actually some early Tundras with a 9.5 rear end and the gears for those are available from Toyota. I thought it was only the 4.7 equipped Tundras, but Just Differentials site says the 4.6 and 4.7 Tundras had the smaller rear end.

 

[Zjohnsonua]

There was actually some early Tundras with a 9.5 rear end and the gears for those are available from Toyota. I thought it was only the 4.7 equipped Tundras, but Just Differentials site says the 4.6 and 4.7 Tundras had the smaller rear end.

I forgot that Toyota broke ranks and downsized that one. Never understood it...did a similar bodge job with Tacoma, too.

As for Nitro, the brand changed hands a few years back and things have definitely changed. Having said that, there are hotly debated threads regarding "best brand", yet I've not seen the first shred of evidence for where a given aftermarket R&P is actually made or by whom. A colleague who recently came to us from the OEM axle world laughs at the arguments, as per his knowledge, only OEMs are getting gears of a consistently high quality - and aftermarket vendors are using old hand me down tooling OEM vendors have sold off. The main headwind to good gear mfg is the truly exorbitant cost to get into the gear producing game.

 

[DesmoPilot]

I am running Nitro 4.30s in my '21. I had them cryo'd and REM polished. I am currently at 30k miles and they are dead quiet.