Motive 3.90 Gears & Bearings

[MilwaukieMustang]

I have a guy picked to install a set of gears I bought, Motive 3.90, with Motive's "Master Install Kit" containing bearings, seals and hardware. The installer comes highly reccommended from a number of sources. When I told the installer on the phone what I was using, he didn't think much at all of Motive gears and said install kits typically contain bearings from Romania, India or China and were garbage, a point I agree with from my own industrial experience. So while on the phone, I opened the install kit and the bearings are Koyo, made in Japan, except one which was "Koyo USA". The installer said they are average, OEM-type bearings. In any case, he reccommended Timken bearings. I've had outstanding experience with them too in motorcycles and industrial applications.

I like the idea of the 3.90 gears, which are a bit more streetable and theoretically slightly better in fuel economy over steeper gears (4.10+) and Motive was the only major brand I found making them. I intend to supercharge eventually and have been told that when I do so, I do not want to use 4.10's, that is, if I ever want to hook-up.

The Questions:
How have your experiences been with Motive gears?
Have you used Motive's install kits, and how have they worked for you?

 

[dysan]

From what I've read, many people but not all have had whining issues with motive gears and especially 3.90 gears. Most people try to stay FRPP gears and go either 3.73 or 4.10 gears.

 

[Bigmike0405]

3.73s here and wish I went 4.10s, reason being I wanna get the Paxton novi 2200 and the extra gear will help the supercharger build boost much quicker.

So that being said if your going supercharged or tubro I would get 4.10s but if you want that thing to still pull hard and stick NA, you could keep the 3.90s they will work great I am sure.

I also heard alot about whinning from the Motive gears, That being said thats Y I went with FRPP

 

[MilwaukieMustang]

3.73s here and wish I went 4.10s, reason being I wanna get the Paxton novi 2200 and the extra gear will help the supercharger build boost much quicker.

So that being said if your going supercharged or tubro I would get 4.10s but if you want that thing to still pull hard and stick NA, you could keep the 3.90s they will work great I am sure.

I also heard alot about whinning from the Motive gears, That being said thats Y I went with FRPP

Now I'm seeing that Richmond makes 3.90's. They're made in the USA, which I like. Don't know where Motive's are made. What do you guys know about Richmond Gear?

 

[dysan]

The only supercharger type that you would want 4.10's or higher would be for a centrifugal unless you've got some killer tires for traction. If you have a twin screw, roots, tvs or a turbo you want 3.73's or lower for them. With 4.10's and the blowers you'd blow the tires loose immediately and have no traction, and with a turbo you won't be able to build boost well with 4.10's as you need a load on the engine.

 

[JeremyH]

I had motive 3.73 and bearing kit on my 01 GT with zero problems.

 

[US-1]

Motive gears are Italian-made. A few people have no issues with them while several others have had whining problems with them. (Whether the whining came from the gears or the owner...I leave for you to research). We use Richmond gears and have zero problems with them. Our twin turbo car is going back together with Richmond 3.73's.

 

[07 Boss]

What size tires are you going to run? That is an important factor when calculating the proper gear ratio. I run 4.10's and plan on a twin screw. With my tires (28.8" dia.) I really have an overall effective gear ratio of 3.83. So look at the total combo before you decide. I was going to go with 3.90's until I decided to go with the big drag radial.

Oh and Richmonds are great. I have run them in other cars with zero issues. I would run them before Motives. You may want to look at Yukon gears.

 

[ChevyKiller]

Motive gears are Italian-made. A few people have no issues with them while several others have had whining problems with them. (Whether the whining came from the gears or the owner...I leave for you to research). We use Richmond gears and have zero problems with them. Our twin turbo car is going back together with Richmond 3.73's.

Where are you planning to spin it this time? You are going to be on a 28"? Have you guys settled in on a boost level or just going to play it by ear during testing? My set-up has to see over 7 grand on 3.73's on a 29" (after 18 lbs)

 

[US-1]

Where are you planning to spin it this time? You are going to be on a 28"? Have you guys settled in on a boost level or just going to play it by ear during testing? My set-up has to see over 7 grand on 3.73's on a 29" (after 18 lbs)

Probably no higher than 6500. Hell...it is an index/street car. If it was a heads up deal it would go 8500.

We will be on a 275/60-15 D/R tire unless the deal with "XXXXX" tire company comes through. Then we'll be playing around on 17's. Boost levels will be determined by how quick it goes initially. Without a full cage I can't run quicker than 9.99 in Super Stang so if it goes 10.0's with 8 psi I'll leave it there. If I need more then I'll bump the controller.

I do plan on pushing the boost up to 14-15 psi just to piss a few people off though.

 

[06z28eater]

i also had motive's in my 03 with a rebuild kit, never had any problems. they were 3.73's

 

[Chrome61]

What are you planning to do with the car? Drag race or a DD? Here's my experience, I put the 3.73's in before I had done any other mod's to my car other than a cai and tune.

My next step was cams and heads and long tubes, after I added everthing up the cost was almost as much as a blower, So long story short, the blower was the best money I every spent for a mod and now WISHED I would have left the stock gears in.

Just my experience....mines just a fun as hell to drive dd

 

[ChevyKiller]

Probably no higher than 6500. Hell...it is an index/street car. If it was a heads up deal it would go 8500.

We will be on a 275/60-15 D/R tire unless the deal with "XXXXX" tire company comes through. Then we'll be playing around on 17's. Boost levels will be determined by how quick it goes initially. Without a full cage I can't run quicker than 9.99 in Super Stang so if it goes 10.0's with 8 psi I'll leave it there. If I need more then I'll bump the controller.

I do plan on pushing the boost up to 14-15 psi just to piss a few people off though.

That thing is going to be EVIL in SS. I can see it now, 10.1x qualifying at low boost and dead consistent...

 

[ChevyKiller]

What are you planning to do with the car? Drag race or a DD? Here's my experience, I put the 3.73's in before I had done any other mod's to my car other than a cai and tune.

My next step was cams and heads and long tubes, after I added everthing up the cost was almost as much as a blower, So long story short, the blower was the best money I every spent for a mod and now WISHED I would have left the stock gears in.

Just my experience....mines just a fun as hell to drive dd

Oh, I don't know about that. Plenty of TS guys making decent power in 4.10's and loving it. I ran 4.10's forever till I went turbo. If you are never going to the track, then I think the stock gears are a good all around fun gear for a TS on the street but if you ever do want to go to the track, you would regret having stock gears in there very quick.

 

[US-1]

That thing is going to be EVIL in SS. I can see it now, 10.1x qualifying at low boost and dead consistent...

Considering it went 10.88 on 8 psi on the stock shortblock....I believe you are right. We'll see what the stroker and a tad more compression will do. Tack on the headwork from Herb Yancer and the camshafts and this might be a whole lot of evil.

Just need that one more sponsor to sign. Landed a biggie last Wednesday along with the Oakley and ARH W/D deals so we'll see shortly.

 

[ChevyKiller]

I'll go on record right now predicting you will be qualifying off the spring without a full cage on that set-up. Glad to see the sponsors stepping up - great job and can't wait to follow you this season.

What would be awesome is if you did cage it, then run off the spring and low boost for SS, then turned around, turned it up and ran true street with it. Even if it was caged, I think the 10.0x range for eliminations in that car is the balls best set-up in SS.

 

[US-1]

There is a body-in-white for sale locally at a pretty damn good price.

 

[goldenpony]

The mileage difference between 4.10s and 3.90s would be insignificant. Do yourself a favor, go with FRPP 4.10 gears.

 

[MilwaukieMustang]

Well, in spite of recommendations to the contrary, I went ahead and put the Motive 3.90's in. Kudos to the installer, John, who has about 40 years experience in gear installation. But even he had mixed feelings about the Motive's; he is very big on U.S. Gear and Richmond. He said Motive's fine in 4WD applications but some have been noisy in passenger cars; a couple so much so that he refused to deliver the car with them in. The guy is a perfectionist. But I had them and wanted to try them so he went ahead. On mine, he said they went in about as well as any Motive's he's put in and there is very little gear noise - if you listen closely, I think I can hear them a little. But the fact is, the exhaust drowns out any hint of what little may be there.

As for where the rubber hits the road - they're a huge difference over the stock 3.55's. I'm very happy.

And with the C&L Racer CAI, SCT-X3 tuner with Brenspeed programming, Steeda Underdrive, Steeda Tri-Ax shifter, Magnaflow catted x-pipe and Borla S catback, it sounds and runs great. The tune was spot-on, with the fuel/air mix dead between the lines. It pulled 298hp/315 Torque on the dyno.

I have a good baseline to start. Much more to come.

 

[Shaffe]

gear noise all depends on the installer. I had motive 4.10s in my old mustang and they were just as quiet as stock.