devongarver

If you have to ask about how hard it is to do the rear end, that means you need to take it to a shop. I was a mechanic by trade when I had my gears installed in my mustang, but I still took it to a reputable shop to have it done because I had never done it before. When I picked it up I too was surprised when the mechanic showed me the remains of my pinion gear that they had to beat into submission to remove. There are lot's of write ups, but that only get's you the basic information. If you are set on doing this watch lot's of youtube videos on the subject until you have seen and heard as many tips and tricks as possible. It all comes down to whether you want to do it to save money, or to say that you did it yourself. If it is the former, save money by just paying to have it done once, not paying to have it fixed after you install it yourself and make a mistake. If you can afford to make a mistake and tear it back apart and learn from it, then by all means that's the best way to learn. Good luck with what ever you decide!

WJL

+1 on if you have to ask, if you have never done one or at least helped do one i would say gears could be challenging. Me on the other hand, i enjoy a challenge and have the tools, this is not my dd and I'm in no hurry so no bid deal for me. In fact it will be the next thing i do when it warms up a bit.

dawson1112

I have done several gear changes in my life time, and never once have I ever had to beat a pinion gear to get it out of the housing. I have on occasion had to heat a ring gear up a little to get it to come off the carrier, but never had to beat one to death where it couldn't be reused if needed.

generally once the pinion nut , and yoke is off you remove the carrier and the pinion slides right out of the housing. I have seen guys beat the pinion to death trying to remove the old pinion bearing instead of using a press or pinion bearing removal tool.

Most times if you get FRPP , the pinion shims can be reused and all you need to do is make sure you set the proper pinion bearing preload. Of course you wont know for sure if the shims are correct until you do a wear pattern test on the gears with the proper backlash .

More than once I have had to remove the pinion bearing and re shim and re do the bearing preload. There is a reason most crush collars come in packs of 2.
It all comes down to proper tools and equipment. And the ability to read and follow proper procedure.

.

tracyballard

just because it never happened in your limited experience does not mean it won't come up sometimes. My mechanic is known in town as one of the best and also most honest. He also happens to be a drag racer with a chassis dyno right in his shop floor. There have been times when I have been stumped and he can tell you what's wrong right away. And if there's a problem, I would rather have him figure it out than try to do it myself and then have it towed to him as a non-driver. Bottom line - you're telling people something won't happen, and if it does, you can't help them at that point.

WJL

TB relax, how do you know what kind of experience dawson has, his experiences seem to be the same as mine "can be difficult but not impossible"

Obviously stupid is as stupid does, if you have no experience and you take your car apart and expect to be able to put it back together well you can answer that one.

This thread is more "GEARED" (get it) towards us who have done this before. I don't think anyone is telling anybody to take the gears out of their differential if they haven't done it before or have resources to go to if they encounter problems.

BTW have you seen some of the videos on youtube, by the looks of them there are lots of people changing gears that i would say are not mechanics or for that matter someone i would let work on my car.

tracyballard

I'm already so relaxed I'm about to go to sleep, but as to experience - he said he had done it "several" times, and is now advising persons on what you can expect in general. As a former professional mechanic I happen to know that things can go the same way for not just a few, but hundreds of times, until that one time it doesn't. I would never recommend anyone take a rear end or tranny apart without some previous experience.

GTgeezer

you are absolutely correct. weigh your options. something like gears I say lets see I can try it myself spend at least 12 hours and risk future damage and wasting money on the parts. or plan B work one overtime shift at work and make enough in that one day to pay someone to do it for me while I'm at work in climate control in a chair and know that if it goes wrong consequences wont be on me. uh??? plan B is for me this time

BMWiduch

It's not hard at all, but can be a pain if you don't know what you're doing..
There's a lot of different things going on in there that have to be done properly.

You got your pinion, differential, ring, shims, carrier, pinion seal, pinion bearings, differential bearing, your trac-lok discs (if you have Traction Control) and you could wind up with a mess on your hands if you're not careful.

Depending on the year of your stang, you're most likely going to have the IRS (Independent Rear Suspension) which is half-shafts connecting to your housing instead of one solid axle.

Taking it apart is one thing, putting it back together is another, and then you've got to use the right Rear Axle lube, and if you have Traction Control, you better not forget the Traction Modifier Grease. If you forget that, you can kiss that rear end goodbye and end up having to do it all over again.

JokerGT

Yeah Buddy,
My son and I did this very job last summer. Got the FRPP 4.10s, the bearing kit and all. Wasn't sure I had the time, so I got a quote from a shop guy, who drag races Mustangs and knew this stuff, to do the job for $300. Was thinkin' I should take him up on it, but I too love a challenge. We aren't noobs, we have most all the tools and do most all work ourselves on both our 99 and 03 Mustangs. The gear change wasn't complicated, just a bitch at times. Our biggest obstacle was replacing the bearings on the carrier, the ones that are pressed on. You better find a shop that's done this before and schedule an appointment. If I didn't have the $300 and had to do it over again, I would get the carrier pulled out, take it to a shop, with new bearings and ring gear, and have them remove & replace them. We spent considerable time getting over this hurdle, even the shop guy smiled when he saw what we had, he was familiar. You better have a dial indicator to set the backlash to the gnats ***. Get the shims shoved in for a tight fit. It's gonna take some patience, but get the shim and backlash combination right. And be careful on the pinion preload too, take your time (might wanna have a spare crush sleeve just in case, I used mine). I'm sure there's other stuff I'm forgetting. You need to read up and understand whats going on. We had to do this job twice, we had a terrible whine on the first go round, frustration and despair set in. We had no choice but to go in again and see what we could find. We didn't didn't have the backlash right and didn't shim it up tight enough (could have swore it was way tight on assembly). After round 2 we had success, quiet and solid, and it felt good. But at the end of the second day, we both agreed, if we had it to do over, we would have let somebody else do it for $300.

71_340

If you have experience gear installation is not hard as long as you meet some prerequisites:

1. Know how to interpret the gear contact pattern using lead marking paste
2. Access to a shop press and bearing puller.
3. Have a beam type inch/pound torque wrench to set pinion bearing preload.
4. Have a dial indicator.
5. Experience helps.

Don't forget that your speedometer needs to be recalibrated after the gear change.