Well... I promised shogunator and Cana8ian4x4 I'd do this, so I've finally gotten off my butt. Dave, if you think this is worth making a sticky of, please feel free.
I recently bit the bullet and got 4.16 Tcase gears for my Sami. There's been lots of talk about these gears, but I've never seen anyone breakdown what's actually involved in getting and installing the gears, so I thought I'd do it. I'm pretty anal about what I call the "real" cost of doing stuff to your 4x4, - I'm the guy who tells people doing an SPOA to remember to add in the cost of a proper brake bleed to their build. So I'm hoping this breakdown will give everyone a "complete" view of what it takes to get Tcase gears into your Sami. Sorry no digi-cam so no pictures. I am also taking this from the attitude of someone who is at best a "backyard mechanic". If you have your own shop, or have a TIG welder sitting in your garage you are not the "average" Sami owner - this is written for the information of the average Sami owner.
The Gears
For reasons I explain below in "alternative choices" I chose to go with new forged gears. There were three dealers I considered buying from: Trail Tough (frequently recommended on Pirate4x4), Spidertrax (bought stuff from them before and had a good experience), and Calmini (liked their instructions and NSOR is a local supplier). In the end, I chose Trail Tough because they had a "gear only" package - I explain the reasons for this in the customs and duty section.
Cost of Gears: $399 USD
CDN $ Equivalent $533.02 (approx 75 cent exchange rate)
Shipping
Standard U.S. Post is the cheapest way of shipping something, but I found out that most suppliers will only ship via courier to Canada. The reason is the couriers have a tracking number so they can answer customer service questions such as why the package hasn't arrived yet. Not only does this increase the shipping costs, it also increases the customs and duty cost as I will explain later.
UPS Shipping Charge $18 USD
CDN $ Equivalent $24 (approx 75 cent exchange rate)
Total Cost to date: $557.02 Canadian
Method of Payment
Lo and behold, when I double checked my Visa Statement the charge was actually $577.91, more than $20 higher than I expected. When I called VISA they explained that they charge a 2.5% surcharge on any foreign currency purchase. Thank god I bought the cheaper gear only set instead of the complete set! I only have access to a regular VISA card, if you have access to a gold card you may want to call them and see if they charge this fee or not. On a large purchase, 2.5% can really add up.
VISA Markup 2.5%
Total Cost to date: $577.91 (I know this isn't exactly 2.5% I might have been off a bit on the original exchange rate).
Duty, Customs Fees, and Taxes
Canada Post charges a flat $5 custom fee, unfortunately courier companies charge a fee based on the value of what you are importing - that's why I chose the gear only set, to keep the value down. The courier company also sets the declared value - in my case $533.02.
GST on declared value $37.31
PST on declared value $39.98
UPS Brokerage Fee $55.40
GST on Brokerage Fee $3.88 (I love the government)
Total Cost to date $714.48 (This was the total cost delivered to my door).
Seals and Gaskets
At a minimum, you need new seals and gaskets when installing the gears. You may also need washers, bearings, etc. but you really don't know if any of that needs replacing until you open your case. In my situation, everything was fine. I did choose to replace the seal for the speedometer cable and external case seal, but I'm not including these in the price as you don't actually need to replace them (I just figured may as well do all the seals at once). Lordco and NAPA said they didn't have the seals. In Lordco's case they could order a "rebuilder" kit from a supplier but they'd never ordered it from them before and it would take three weeks for delivery as it wasn't in stock (or they were lying to me, the counter staff I got were pretty dumb). So I just bought the gaskets and seals from Suzuki. Trail Tough was charging about $25 USD for these so I came out a bit ahead by avoiding the extra customs and VISA fees.
Gasket $2.31
Gasket $4.48
Input Seal $9.67
Input Seal $9.67
Output Seal $8.52
Total Seals and Gaskets $34.65
GST $2.43
PST $2.60
Total Cost to date $754.16
Edit: forgot the cost of 75-90 Oil, add in about $10
Installation
You need to pull and press on the gears, so if you don't have the tools to do this you're going to have to hire someone. Even if you do have the tools, you'll need the good part of a day and you need to be methodical and patient. My eyes bled from reading the Trail Tough instructions and the Haynes manual has zero instructions for rebuilding a tcase. There are lots of little parts in there so you're going to have to be very methodical about labelling and marking everything.
Impressions of the Trail Tough Gears
They are average - I'm actually a bit dissapointed given how much people rave about this company. The metal looks like there may have been some impurities in it and there was a small chip on my output gear (on the face not the teeth). This is not to say they are bad quality - they are average quality, it's just that I was expecting excellent.
Saving Money
There are ways to spend less on this than I did. If you can find a method of payment that does not charge 2.5% surcharge for paying in US dollars and if you get it shipped to a mailboxes etc. across the line and pick the gears up yourself, you can cut about $100 off my price at an extra cost to you of about $10 for gas and mailbox fees ($90 off total). You could conceivably save the taxes if you could somehow install the gears across the line, but I don't know how legal that is nor how possible.
Alternatives
I went with forged gears, the obvious alternative is to find an '84 tcase and go with cut and welded gears. I think forged gears are a better choice for three reasons:
1) You don't have to wait to find an '84 tcase nor go without a Sami while your gears are being cut and welded.
2) Your gears are new, not used.
3) You don't have to be concerned about the strength of a weld someone else did.
If those reasons are not of a concern to you, then going with cut and welded gears may be an option for you. Rough costs for cut and welded gears "to your door" are:
84 Tcase $200-$300
Breeze Cut and Welding $200
GST on welding $14
PST on welding $15
Total Cost "to your door" $429 - $529
You'd still have to buy the gaskets and seals and install the gears. Compared to my "to the door cost" of $625 - $715 (depending on whether you take my money saving advice or not). You can save $100 - $200 by going with cut and welded gears.
For me getting the gears NOW and the peace of mind of having forged gears was worth the extra cost - you're a different person, it may or may not be worth it to you.
Considering that the two most recent posts for Tcases in the for sale section saw an '84 Tcase go for $300 and a GRSII (4.89 ratio) Tcase for for $1000 (both according to the seller). I am quite satisfied with having new gears in Little Bitch installed and running for $775.
David
Oh I forgot... shipping was regular UPS ground and took 3 business days to get to my door.
I recently bit the bullet and got 4.16 Tcase gears for my Sami. There's been lots of talk about these gears, but I've never seen anyone breakdown what's actually involved in getting and installing the gears, so I thought I'd do it. I'm pretty anal about what I call the "real" cost of doing stuff to your 4x4, - I'm the guy who tells people doing an SPOA to remember to add in the cost of a proper brake bleed to their build. So I'm hoping this breakdown will give everyone a "complete" view of what it takes to get Tcase gears into your Sami. Sorry no digi-cam so no pictures. I am also taking this from the attitude of someone who is at best a "backyard mechanic". If you have your own shop, or have a TIG welder sitting in your garage you are not the "average" Sami owner - this is written for the information of the average Sami owner.
The Gears
For reasons I explain below in "alternative choices" I chose to go with new forged gears. There were three dealers I considered buying from: Trail Tough (frequently recommended on Pirate4x4), Spidertrax (bought stuff from them before and had a good experience), and Calmini (liked their instructions and NSOR is a local supplier). In the end, I chose Trail Tough because they had a "gear only" package - I explain the reasons for this in the customs and duty section.
Cost of Gears: $399 USD
CDN $ Equivalent $533.02 (approx 75 cent exchange rate)
Shipping
Standard U.S. Post is the cheapest way of shipping something, but I found out that most suppliers will only ship via courier to Canada. The reason is the couriers have a tracking number so they can answer customer service questions such as why the package hasn't arrived yet. Not only does this increase the shipping costs, it also increases the customs and duty cost as I will explain later.
UPS Shipping Charge $18 USD
CDN $ Equivalent $24 (approx 75 cent exchange rate)
Total Cost to date: $557.02 Canadian
Method of Payment
Lo and behold, when I double checked my Visa Statement the charge was actually $577.91, more than $20 higher than I expected. When I called VISA they explained that they charge a 2.5% surcharge on any foreign currency purchase. Thank god I bought the cheaper gear only set instead of the complete set! I only have access to a regular VISA card, if you have access to a gold card you may want to call them and see if they charge this fee or not. On a large purchase, 2.5% can really add up.
VISA Markup 2.5%
Total Cost to date: $577.91 (I know this isn't exactly 2.5% I might have been off a bit on the original exchange rate).
Duty, Customs Fees, and Taxes
Canada Post charges a flat $5 custom fee, unfortunately courier companies charge a fee based on the value of what you are importing - that's why I chose the gear only set, to keep the value down. The courier company also sets the declared value - in my case $533.02.
GST on declared value $37.31
PST on declared value $39.98
UPS Brokerage Fee $55.40
GST on Brokerage Fee $3.88 (I love the government)
Total Cost to date $714.48 (This was the total cost delivered to my door).
Seals and Gaskets
At a minimum, you need new seals and gaskets when installing the gears. You may also need washers, bearings, etc. but you really don't know if any of that needs replacing until you open your case. In my situation, everything was fine. I did choose to replace the seal for the speedometer cable and external case seal, but I'm not including these in the price as you don't actually need to replace them (I just figured may as well do all the seals at once). Lordco and NAPA said they didn't have the seals. In Lordco's case they could order a "rebuilder" kit from a supplier but they'd never ordered it from them before and it would take three weeks for delivery as it wasn't in stock (or they were lying to me, the counter staff I got were pretty dumb). So I just bought the gaskets and seals from Suzuki. Trail Tough was charging about $25 USD for these so I came out a bit ahead by avoiding the extra customs and VISA fees.
Gasket $2.31
Gasket $4.48
Input Seal $9.67
Input Seal $9.67
Output Seal $8.52
Total Seals and Gaskets $34.65
GST $2.43
PST $2.60
Total Cost to date $754.16
Edit: forgot the cost of 75-90 Oil, add in about $10
Installation
You need to pull and press on the gears, so if you don't have the tools to do this you're going to have to hire someone. Even if you do have the tools, you'll need the good part of a day and you need to be methodical and patient. My eyes bled from reading the Trail Tough instructions and the Haynes manual has zero instructions for rebuilding a tcase. There are lots of little parts in there so you're going to have to be very methodical about labelling and marking everything.
Impressions of the Trail Tough Gears
They are average - I'm actually a bit dissapointed given how much people rave about this company. The metal looks like there may have been some impurities in it and there was a small chip on my output gear (on the face not the teeth). This is not to say they are bad quality - they are average quality, it's just that I was expecting excellent.
Saving Money
There are ways to spend less on this than I did. If you can find a method of payment that does not charge 2.5% surcharge for paying in US dollars and if you get it shipped to a mailboxes etc. across the line and pick the gears up yourself, you can cut about $100 off my price at an extra cost to you of about $10 for gas and mailbox fees ($90 off total). You could conceivably save the taxes if you could somehow install the gears across the line, but I don't know how legal that is nor how possible.
Alternatives
I went with forged gears, the obvious alternative is to find an '84 tcase and go with cut and welded gears. I think forged gears are a better choice for three reasons:
1) You don't have to wait to find an '84 tcase nor go without a Sami while your gears are being cut and welded.
2) Your gears are new, not used.
3) You don't have to be concerned about the strength of a weld someone else did.
If those reasons are not of a concern to you, then going with cut and welded gears may be an option for you. Rough costs for cut and welded gears "to your door" are:
84 Tcase $200-$300
Breeze Cut and Welding $200
GST on welding $14
PST on welding $15
Total Cost "to your door" $429 - $529
You'd still have to buy the gaskets and seals and install the gears. Compared to my "to the door cost" of $625 - $715 (depending on whether you take my money saving advice or not). You can save $100 - $200 by going with cut and welded gears.
For me getting the gears NOW and the peace of mind of having forged gears was worth the extra cost - you're a different person, it may or may not be worth it to you.
Considering that the two most recent posts for Tcases in the for sale section saw an '84 Tcase go for $300 and a GRSII (4.89 ratio) Tcase for for $1000 (both according to the seller). I am quite satisfied with having new gears in Little Bitch installed and running for $775.
David
Oh I forgot... shipping was regular UPS ground and took 3 business days to get to my door.