# 2004 Suburban 3.73 To 4.10



## Bull Elk (Feb 28, 2005)

I would like to have some input on what it would cost to change out a 3.73 rearend for a 4.10 rearend on my 2004 Suburban. Is is farily easy? Is it worth it for the extra 1,000 lbs? What questions should I be asking? Will it do anything to my extended warranty? 
Thanks for any input - Rich


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## Fire44 (Mar 6, 2005)

If you do the swap through a GM Dealer, using GM gear sets it could cost you $1000 or more!! (2 wheel drive models, 4x4 you will double the cost). If you are good with a wrench you could save the labor cost.

If you are up against the towing capacity of your vehicle and do alot of towing it might be worth it, but if the extra 1000 pounds would push you over the capcities of your truck, then you could be starting more problems that you solve. If you are towing more that the truck is capable of then other factors come into play, brakes, wheels, tires, frame, and cooling.

Just my opinion,
Gary


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## jgerni (Nov 10, 2003)

I am guessing that your Suburban is a K1500.

If you Suburban is 4x4 its going to be costly probably $1500.00 or more. If you had 3.42s I would highly recomend it. It shouldn't affect your warranty since 4.10s are an option from the factory and as long as the dealer does the work.

Are you not satisfied with the way the Suburban is towing? I bet that 28RSDS is pushing you right to the limits of your Burb. I hope your towing in fairly flat lands because if you get into the mountains you will probably not be a happy camper.


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## Ghosty (Jan 17, 2005)

Guess we need to know WHY you want to increase.??

Just some thoughts though --

1. If you were going from a 3.42 to a 4.10 that would be one thing and I would say yes... but going from a 3.73. to a 4.10 you will not see dramatic difference .

2. After all is said and done you will pay about 1500 to get a mere 1000 more in towing... not a good ratio of $:wt... are you really that close in tow limits?

If you are then I would recommend that you look at a 2500HD ...

as for the wrranty -- my dealer told me that i as long as I didnt add something or modify something on my truck that cuased another "covered" part to fail -- then my warranty was intact...

of course you realize that if you put that rear end in yourslef and anything goes wrong with any part of the transmission then Chevy (God bless them) will do whatever they can to say that the warranty is nullified becuase of something you did....


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## Bull Elk (Feb 28, 2005)

Thanks for the comments! After thinking about it more, I have decided that we will see how things go this summer, since most of our camping will be within 100 miles from home on flat ground. I will keep my eye open for a big block 8100 in the future and if a deal presents itself, I will probably change my TV. This is my wife's vehicle, so I really do not want to get something that is very old or has high miles. Not real sure that I am ready to go new, either. I guess we will see what happens. The big blocks are not exactly in an over abundance.
Thanks - Rich


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## mswalt (Sep 14, 2004)

Rich,

I found my 2500 8.1L Suburban on the Internet and drove 2 1/2 hours to go see it and buy it.

You're right, there's not many around. I think I found about 4 worth looking at within a 250 mile radius of Abilene.

Got it and am happy with it. Good luck.

Mark


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## kkfbaloo37 (Mar 6, 2005)

Bull Elk said:


> I would like to have some input on what it would cost to change out a 3.73 rearend for a 4.10 rearend on my 2004 Suburban. Is is farily easy? Is it worth it for the extra 1,000 lbs? What questions should I be asking? Will it do anything to my extended warranty?
> Thanks for any input - Rich
> [snapback]36066[/snapback]​


I asked around about this same thing for my Tahoe. I was told that if you do that, you would have to reset the computer as that gear ratio will affect a lot of other things like your speedometer reading incorrectly, transmission shifting at the wrong time, gas milage getting a lot worse among a few.


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## aplvlykat (Jan 25, 2004)

KKfbaloo, be very careful about changing the gears on a Tahoe. I did just what you said, went from 3.42 to 4.10 and had nothing but problems. The Tahoe is not offered with 4.10 gears and chevy will not reprogram the computer. This leaves one option and that is to purchase an aftermarket tuner, to the sum of 400.00 dollars to reset everything. The lowest you can go and get any help from chevy is 3.73 gears and this may not be enough to help or show a difference. Even with the 4.10 gears you still have brakes, driveline, trans and other components that are set up for the 1/2 ton truck. Lets not forget the tires if you go oversize you also change the ratio, the taller the tire is it will lower your ratio, so if you change to 3.73 gears, and your tire increased in size, say 5%, then you have a ratio of aprox. 3.54. I guess what I am trying to tell you is a lot of different things come into play and I learned the hard way, you can't make a 1/2 ton truck do more than it is designed to do. So be careful about what you do, hope this helps. Kirk


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## jscotb (Apr 10, 2004)

I have an Avalance. The bearings went bad in the rear end, so while they were replacing the bearings I had them change the gear set also. Went from 3.73 to 4.10. I can tell a difference when towing. They can reset the computer very easily. Paid $400 for gears and $80 for computer programming. Did not get the job done at a Chevrolet dealer. They wanted $1100 just to replace bearings (out of warrenty 42k miles).


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## j1mfrog (Jun 6, 2004)

I got my burb on e-bay. Bought it from a guy in Texas and had it shipped to Chicago. Got it for about $4000 less than blue book trade-in value then had to pay $700 shipping. I took a chance buying it this way but it turned out great for me. Great truck, great price, excellent tow vehicle.


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