3.33 gears are available again

[Jack B]

I just bought a set of 3.33's from Unitrax. For those that have tried to purchase 3.33's and couldn't find them, Unitrax just found a batch and should have them in house by now.

As a side note, some of the 3.33's in the past came with 3/8" ring gear bolts. Their gear sets now have the 7/16" bolts. I bought a set from them three years ago. They held up well, however, the bolts loosened up. Two or three of them backed out about 3/16". I was on the dyno and the remaining bolts sheared off. They now wire the bolts so they can't back out.

Where credit is due - I sent them my pumkin, they installed the gears on a new Quaife, burned the housing clean and it came back looking like a new unit. It is so refreshing to deal with someone who takes pride in their work and does it in a timely manner as promised.

 

[J DAWG]

3.33's may be a good gear for these cars. a happy median between the stock and 3.55's.

will I still be able to do 200 in 5th?

 

[TOOOFST]

I seemed to max out around 180 as i've had many miles of
highway runs through vegas two years back.With the added power similar to you should be close Johnny.
Reguardless,these gears are friggin perfect.

 

[safireviper]

Cost? The 3.33's seem to be a good fit.

 

[rcdice]

Jack,

Do the "found" 3.33's have the improved 7/16" bolts?

Thanks,

 

[Knight Viper]

Would a group buy with anything like this help? I would be interested with or without.

 

[Jack B]

Yes - these are the 7/16" bolts. In addition, they will stress relieve and then polish the gears, it is not quite that simple they have a technical name for the process. After that they should be as bullet-proof as it can be.

As far as price, it will matter what their purchase point for the lot was. The cost can be two fold, the gears and the set-up. They don't have to do the set-up, any good vette performance shop can pattern the ring and pinion. On the other hand, after seeing their work, why go elsewhere. There is no doubt in my mind, the original 3.33's in my car would not have failed if the ring gear bolts were wired like Unitrax did on the new set. My bad ring and pinion looked like new, except for a nick in one tooth that happened when the ring gear bolts sheared. They would not have sheared, except, three of them had back out.

They are a great source of info on differentials. I can't wait to see how the Quaife changes the handling.

 

[Fishtail]

I've been trying to get a set of them for over 2 years. I called unitrax and they said they sold out immediately, dang it I was told by several members that's the PERFECT gear for the street and strip.

 

[ViperJoe]

Are the 3.33 cryo treated?
How did you ship them your rear and what was the shipping costs?
Did they install new bearings etc also?
Thanks

 

[Viper87]

YEAH! its awesome these 3.33 gears are available again! My father has a GTS and put a set of 3.55 gears on it and he didn't like them so he ditched them for the stock gear set. i will tell him these are now available again! <font color="red"> </font>

 

[Jack B]

They cryo treated mine. None of the Dana gear sets are treated, they have a source that treats them. I sent them the pumkin, the weight is 75 lbs with packing, use the ups site to estimate freight. They go over everything and replace where needed.

 

[rcdice]

Ordered a set of 3.33's Monday. Here's the story:

I've read probably everything written on gear ratios for the Viper. IMHO, 3.33 is indeed the sweet spot for all around driving. The vette has a 3.42 with not as much torque. The Ford GT has 3.36 with 500 lbs of torque. Both motors redline higher than the Viper.

I spent the last few days talking with the good folks at Roe Racing, Jon B. at Partsrack and Devan at Unitrax. A dozen sets of NOS original Dana gears were located. Gears were made in 1999 in the USA. Unitrax kept a few to sell, the others went to Doug Levin and Roe. I ordered from Roe the ring and pinion, speedo recalc. box and Unitrax put together everything that would be needed to install and rebuild the rear end for my car. Instructions for everything including how to wire the bolts in as Jack B describes above.

As of yesterday, Dave at Roe had, I believe, two sets left 904-529-1219 ex 2#. Very helpful guy.

I won't be installing these for a few months as my car in currently in winter hibernation. Looking forward to a little "something extra" this Spring.

 

[sbkim]

Rcdice - thansk for the info. Do you have mostly stock car? I hope SOTP improvement will still be had on a stock car and 3.33 vs 3.55

 

[LETHAL GTS]

Damn.....I need me a set of them bad boys!

 

[BLWNV10]

An interesting note. Dana filed for Bankruptcy the other day.

 

[Fast Freddy]

thats a major blow. i run a dana 60 in the front of my 4X4 ford F-250 superduty. it has a 4.30 gear with a ARB air locker.

 

[rcdice]

Dana has filed for bankruptcy "reorganization", not liquidation. They will screw some creditors, stock holders have already been screwed, lay a bunch of people off, cut benefits and otherwise continue with business as usual. It's the American way, isn't it? Well, it's legal anyway.

Unitrax and others have been trying to get them to produce another run of 3.33's for two years. I guess Dana has had bigger concerns than a measly order of 100 Viper gear sets. They've since switched to an Italian manufacturer to try and get them made. Running into the same issues, the numbers are just too small and the manufacturer just keeps pushing the order back to make production room for larger (much larger) orders.

SBKIM, Yes, my car is not that far from stock (exhaust, tubes/filters, set of RR waiting to go on). I don't plan on doing forced induction or nos on this car. Although, I may do a heads/cam package at some point. I like the car "looking" stock. My goal for the 3.33's is to give better performance for the way I drive the car, on the street. The 3.33's will keep the rpm's more so in the power band but yet give it a little room to "stretch" in each gear. As an example, if I'm on the highway and downshift into 3rd at 65 mph I'd be at 3651 rpm's with 3.33's and be able to run to 103.3 @ 5,800 for my next shift. With 3.55's the car would be at 3892 and would only hit 96.9 @ 5,800. Maybe not a big difference to some, but with all the numbers I've run, I like the way the 3.33's measure out vs. stock 3.07 or 3.55. Also, with a head/cam package the car should be capable of a low 11 sec. 1/4 mile hitting somewhere in the 130's mph. 3.55's will max out in 4rth gear in the 120's. 3.33's should allow the car to complete the run in 4th.

Just my .02 Right or wrong, that's the direction I'm going.

 

[RichieSRT10]

I just purchased a quaife &amp; had the 3.33 installed. I am excited to see how well they work with the new engine DLM has built for me. Tomorrow I pick my car up. I will let everyone know what I think about them next week.