ring & pinion brands

[heathmo]

Ok, so I believe I've decided my next mod is going to be a gear ratio change. Just had some questions on brands or if I should just hold out to see if some axles become available. I'm looking to move up to 4.10 so that I can eventually get some 32" tires on my Explorer. Another forum member mentioned to me that he may be doing a solid axle swap in the future so it's possible that I could pick up his 4.10 axles or axle, depending on his plans. It's possible that my brother and I could figure out how to do this as well, the hardest part that I'm forseeing is getting the Aussie back out of the rear diff.

That and actually setting up gears, this would be a new one for the both of us. I've gone through the two threads on how to do it, I don't recall if there were going to be a lot of new tools needed though. If I am not able to pick up the used axles, what brands of ring & pinion are best. I've seen the U.S. ones and they require a notched pin and I'm not about to deal with that. So they're out. Next is Ford Racing, I've seen really low prices on those. But I see most of the guys in the forum use Yukon, which I'm sure are great, but generally have a higher price than the Ford Racing. I will be towing and doing light off-road, so what are my best options here? And how are the stock ones?

Thanks in advance.

 

[BrooklynBay]

I have a set of Richmond gears in the back of my 88. I had to replace them a couple of times. You could look into a set of these or another brand.

 

[heathmo]

Why did you have to replace them so much? I've heard that the Richmonds are a bit louder than the Yukon's, were they noisy? I don't really know what it means to have noisy gears. Would it be able to drown out my exhaust (custom Magnaflow) and my locker (Aussie)?