What are the advantages and disadvantages to using thick gears? I can get up to 4.88 without changing carriers, so that would save me some money. If I plan to add a locker, are thick gears the way to go?
The main advantage to thick gears is that you can keep the same carrier and move to lower gears. If you have already invested in lockers then you don't have to repurchase them.
Other than that there is no real advantage.
Exactly. most of the time lower stock gear ratio's have a different carrier than higher stock ratio's. The thick gearset is for those higher stock ratio carriers. No real disadvantage that I know of. Only advantage is that you don't have to buy a new carrier. Lockers work the same in either.
personal setup; Dana 44's with 3.73 stock gears. Installed 5.13 thick w/ lockrights. Worked fine. Not finished with the build yet though.
But i would say that the thick gears, the ring is thicker, so it will be a little bit stronger, but typically the pinion is what breaks... so it may be negligable