I thought I give Richmond Gear a try and this is what they emailed me back:

Dear Mr. Nguyen:

Thank you for your interest in Richmond Gear.

Normally, we only manufacture gears in minimum quantites (50-100 per ratio). This is because we sell through our authorized distributors. However, if there is a market need, we will consider special runs.

What prices are you currently paying for gear sets? What ratios are of interest to you?

After receiving this information, we will review your request in our September product review meeting.

Sincerely,

Winners Run RICHMOND!

Ronald F. Hix, National Sales Manager
Richmond Gear
1208 Old Norris Road
Liberty, SC 29657
864-843-9231
fax 864-843-2964
www.richmondgear.com

If they can beat $650 for a 5.13 R&P I bet they can get some buyers. Would really make the SAS planning easier not having to worry about sawpping the rear axle just to get affordable gears.

Good news! Keep us posted when they followup.

It's good to see people willing to take the time to research options instead of just sitting around and bitching about it.

Why does stuff like this happen AFTER I buy my gears?

quote:

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Why does stuff like this happen AFTER I buy my gears?

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ditto ditto ditto ditto ditto ditto ditto ditto

Well, if u can convince them (or we, rather) that there is a market (100 trucks or more), then we'd have some better priced gears! I've already bought mine, but it'd help out other people, even w/IFS. If they can sell us gears for under $300/axle, that would be acceptable. And, if Calmini gets in the game too, then we'll have about as many gear choices as the Ford Sterling 10.25/10.5. Not a whole lot of choice, but we'd have choice nonetheless!

The only ratio I can see a large need for is 5.13, since it matches the D44 axle. 4.88/4.9 IMO isnt much of a change over stock gearing.

Maybe a set of 5.29s for guys who want Toy axles.

Hey Cuong, did you ever reply to them?

5.14 from 4.625 is not that great either. Just barely enough to make 33's work similar to 31's, which isn't all that great either.
Something in the 5.71-6.0 range would be killer.
Should we all email Richmond, that way they can judge the interest for themselves?

You have to worry about having a gearing selection that matches a wide variety of front axles. 5.88s is in that range, which works for Dana 44s, but its kind of a weak gearset since the teeth get smaller with the numericly higher ratios. 5.875s are already available for $450 anyway for the h233.

Since the nissan R&P is going to be sold in very low volume, the price will still be significantly higher than the cost of D44 or Toy gears.

Not everybody is doing an SAS, so I would want front gears also. I've been running on Dana 30's and 35's for awhile, and even with small 4.88 gears, they can stand up to a 4.0. I can't see a VG30 breaking any gears you could put in a H233.

I haven't gotten a response back. I think we should all email Richmond like said.

If they did a 5.29 or 5.71 that would match other ratios out there possibly open up other axle options.
Just curious has anyone contacted these people: http://www.4x4mountainsport.com/ to see how much thier 5.42 gear set is? They sell them for nissans. Just seems it would take less time to obtain some gears from them than trying to get richmond to develop gears.
The only issue I can see is it might get expensive for shipping since they are out of iceland.

Hey guys I'm back with a response from Ronald:

We continue to have interest in manufacturing these gears.

Can you provide me with any names of dealers who currently sell products for
Nissan? This information would help me establish sales outlets as we do not
sell direct to the consumer.

Thanks for your help.

Winners Run RICHMOND!

Ronald F. Hix, National Sales Manager
Richmond Gear
1208 Old Norris Road
Liberty, SC 29657
864-843-9231
fax 864-843-2964
www.richmondgear.com <http://www.richmondgear.com>



EDIT:
please post up your thoughts, comments, and suggestions. I would like to gather as much input as I can before I reply back to Ronald.

I'd suggest AC or Calmini and possibly some of the other places like www.reiderracing.com and www.drivetrainsuperstores.com