Changing Differential Gears - Need No B.S. Answer

[OlGeezer]

Originally Posted by MJH78 I thought there were 2 axle bearings? Anyways, I would not use that mechanic again. He had the thing apart and wanted another $600 (labor only?) to put in new gears? Like I said, I paid $600 P+L for my gear install with new axle bearings and all the new shims and such in the rear end, and that seems to be pretty standard to what guys here are paying. Just trying to help out. It was $600 for parts and labor. Yeah, I was shocked about the differential (pardon the pun) cost. There are two outer bearings (at the wheels as you would suspect), two inner bearings on either side of the differential and two pinion bearings between the drive shaft and differential. The failed bearing was the left outer bearing. The others were pretty worn. The Modular engine is Ford Motor Company's current high volume overhead camshaft (OHC) V8 and V10 gasoline engine family. It gradually replaced the Windsor small-block and 385 big-block engines over several years in the mid-1990s. Contrary to popular belief, the Modular engine did not get its name from its design or sharing of certain parts among the engine family. Instead, the name was derived from a manufacturing plant protocol, "Modular", where the plant and its tooling could be changed out in a matter of hours to manufacture different versions of the engine family.[1] The Modular engines are used in various Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury vehicles. Modular engines used in Ford trucks have been marketed under the Triton name since 1997 while the InTech name was used for a time at Lincoln for vehicles equipped with DOHC versions of the engines. Thanks for that explaination.

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[OlGeezer]

Originally Posted by RogerDodger1

Why did the bearings fail? With that little mileage on the car, sounds like a lubricant related failure.

That makes sense to me, although I have no idea how one would lubricate the inner bearings on the transaxle and the pinion bearings.

It appears that the PO interpreted "well maintained" as merely changing the oil on a (hopefully) regular basis. He did not provide any service records. I'm planning on changing all of the fluids in the 75k service.

You bring up a good question. How often should I grease the outer bearings? IIRC, my Toyotas did not have that on the maintenance schedule. Amazingly, my motorcycle (BMW) seemingly have lifetime no maintenance bearings. I've got 140k miles on them and they are still good. The old bearing design had to be changed every other tire change at 20k miles or so.

Dang, I wish I had a lift in my garage. Of course, if I did, I would probably get myself in over my head really, really quick. Still, it was nice to be able to look at everything while standing up and being able to look at things from every imaginable angle.

[Eagle2000GT]

Holy cow! He wanted $1150 to put in a new gear and change bearings? I paid less than that and I upgraded everything in the rear end including a complete bearing kit, new Strange 31-spline axles, used Explorer 31-spline differential with new clutch kit, new FRPP 3.73 gears and labor.

[WhiteFoxGT]

Originally Posted by MJH78

I thought there were 2 axle bearings? Anyways, I would not use that mechanic again. He had the thing apart and wanted another $600 (labor only?) to put in new gears? Like I said, I paid $600 P+L for my gear install with new axle bearings and all the new shims and such in the rear end, and that seems to be pretty standard to what guys here are paying. Just trying to help out.

The Modular engine is Ford Motor Company's current high volume overhead camshaft (OHC) V8 and V10 gasoline engine family. It gradually replaced the Windsor small-block and 385 big-block engines over several years in the mid-1990s. Contrary to popular belief, the Modular engine did not get its name from its design or sharing of certain parts among the engine family. Instead, the name was derived from a manufacturing plant protocol, "Modular", where the plant and its tooling could be changed out in a matter of hours to manufacture different versions of the engine family.[1] The Modular engines are used in various Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury vehicles. Modular engines used in Ford trucks have been marketed under the Triton name since 1997 while the InTech name was used for a time at Lincoln for vehicles equipped with DOHC versions of the engines.

Theres 6 bearings in the rear. 2 axle bearings, 2 carrier bearings, 2 pinion bearings...

And thanks for the history lesson

[WhiteFoxGT]

And apparently I need to learn to click page-2 before I reply to a post

600$ for a gear install?? I charge 150$ (you supply parts) for gear swaps.... 200$ for a full rebuild.

[OlGeezer]

Originally Posted by Eagle2000GT

Holy cow! He wanted $1150 to put in a new gear and change bearings? I paid less than that and I upgraded everything in the rear end including a complete bearing kit, new Strange 31-spline axles, used Explorer 31-spline differential with new clutch kit, new FRPP 3.73 gears and labor.

No, I was mistaken. The $375 labor charge to remove the bearings would cover the gear swap as well. I didn't realize that. I saw a lot of kits under $300. He said it would be fine if I supplied my own parts, but that would mean my car would be tied up for a few days. He wanted $400 for the parts. I realized I could get a set a tires for that. After tires, I need shocks and struts.

I do think I need to find a new mechanic. I also need to save up!

And here I thought maintaining a BMW motorcycle was expensive!