Originally Posted by Jetboy

We discussed this issue a few weeks ago and I've had stock and 4.56 gears. I found the 4.56 to be too low for me running mostly stock setup with 33 or 34" tires. I think 4.10 would be a good choice for heavy stock rigs, towing with stock tires, and lighter weight setups with slightly larger tires.

Just for the basic math - getting back to exact stock gearing, you'd run a 38.6" tire with 4.56 gears. With 4.10 gears, you'd exactly match stock gearing with 34.7" tires. With typical 285/70/17's, 4.10 diffs would net you approximately 5% gear reduction vs stock. With 285/75/17 - you'd be just slightly lower geared than stock.

For heavy rigs with big tires - 4.56 is often a better choice. But for the moderate setups that do a lot of highway time, I think 4.10 is a better ratio. At least it would be for me.

I reached out to a few gear manufacturers. The only aftermarket gears I think are currently made by Circle K in Korea. I think they make all of the gear sets for every brand of aftermarket gears for the rear 8.2 diff. There are currently OEM front 4.10 gear sets. So this is just for the rear.

Earlier this week I received confirmation that they believe that they can use the T8.2 forgings already in use for the other gear sets to machine for a 41 tooth pinion and 10 tooth ring. So this would be a matching 4.10 gear set to the OEM front 4.10 gears.

(They can also probably make a 4.30 set, but it's not as close to the mid point between 3.73 and 4.56 that exist already, and I'm sure a 4.11 set is also possible, but 4.11 is a weaker ratio with only a 9 tooth pinion; 4.10 is stronger in most differentials and matches the 4.10 8" clamshell front ratio already available.)

The tooling setup cost isn't as horrible as I thought. So I can get them to cut me a set of one-off samples at higher price per/unit and I can test them - by that I mean put them in a diff and make sure they setup correctly and fit, etc. I can't really "test" them for strength or durability. This is basically a proof of concept for the use of the existing forgings and making sure spacing fits and such. I don't have the ability to run them for millions of test miles, shock load them in a measurable way. I'm probably not all that interested in sending them for metal lab analysis either. I just don't really care that much to be honest. And they're a top tier gear maker and they should be the same forge stock as all the other aftermarket sets. I've used their gears before and currently have a set in my garage setup in an T8.2 elocker diff.

So... they've also said that they can produce them if there's enough interest. The minimum order quantity for production level pricing will be a few hundred sets. I was hoping for more like 50 sets and I'll see if I can make that happen, but I'm not completely sure if there's enough interest even for that many sets. I suspect it may actually be more popular for the GX crowd. I think a stock GX would benefit in a lot of ways from this ratio. But also - remember that I'm not in the business of selling car parts. I have a full time job. I don't want to deal with customer service. I don't want to warranty your junk. This would be an as-is deal. You get what you get and you take your chances. If I can get Nitro or ECGS or someone to take half the first order or something like that, maybe there could be a better option? Not sure. For now - consider it as a no-service type situation. You get the matched gear sets and they get to your door in good condition. That's all.

The upshot here is the pricing could be pretty good. Depending on volume I think I could get the gear set alone (no other parts, no shims, no crush sleeve/spacers, no loctite, no paint, etc.) - pricing down somewhere under $200 per set including repackaging and shipping to you.

You'd have to source your own mini or full install kits. Although the gears are the same, the setup is different for elocker and non-elocker. T8.2 e-locker diffs require only pinion shims. T8.2 non-elocker diffs do required carrier shims as well.

So - I guess the end of this post is that I'm not a vendor. They are not for sale. And I probably won't order a batch. I wanted to bring this back around to close the loop that - yes, circle K will make them and they would not cost all that much if there was enough market.

So what do folks think? Is this something that would be worth a group buy of some sort? Is it something you'd want if I/we could convince a vendor to carry them with full service behind it instead if they were more like $350/set? Or is this a ratio only I want and I should just order a one-off set for me that I might never install if I sell my 4Runner before I get around to it?