1998mustangcobra

Whats up guys,

After three long, painful, agonizing weeks without my Cobra the transmission has finally come in (not to mention we have had the absolute best weather of the year here in southern Tennessee while my car's on jack stands) so needless to say I'll be busting *** to get this thing back together. So I was looking at the rear end the other day and noticed that where the driveshaft connects to the rear that it's slinging gear oil on the underbody of the car. This is the pinion seal right? I have never changed nor worked on a rear end so I have no idea, this is just what I have been told. Soo, how hard is it to change a pinion seal? I'm figuring since I have it up might as well replace everything I can to hopefully keep the damn thing out of the shop for a while.

thanks for the help!

1998mustangcobra

Just in case any of you guys were wondering, here's what was wrong with the car:

1) Bad front and rear pinion bearings
2) Bad driver and passenger side carrier bearings
3) Bad pinion seal

After replacing all these (about $120 worth of parts and a good 5 hours on the car lift) everything seems to be working great. I had no knowledge of how to repair a rear end but lucky I come from a long line of mechanics and two of my uncles own a automotive shop. They specialize in building custom rat and street rods so changing bearings in the rear end was a cake walk for them. I didn't realize how noisy the rear end was until the new bearings quieted things up. Completely got rid of the "squeaking" issue I was having. However, there seems to be a vibration coming from the rear at 40+mph but I have an aluminum driveshaft on the way from american muscle to hopefully help this issue and get rid of some rotating weight. From the forums I have read it seems like the vibrating I'm having is pointed directly at the driveshaft. Its barely noticable, and its more like a "harmonic humming", that's the best way I know to describe it.

Hope this helps!

1998mustangcobra

Got my driveshaft in yesterday and bolted it up this morning. As soon as I got it back on the road I noticed a HUGE difference. Took away all the vibrations I was having and everything else seems to be running smoother as well. Hopefully problem solved!

Blackvenom01

your old one was prolly unbalanced...i also need to change my front pinion seal ive never done it so itll be a learning experience for me too...any tips

1998mustangcobra

Must have been. I thought about gettting it rebalanced but I was kind of itching to have an aluminum one anyways so I went ahead and got one . Not really, only thing I can think of is make sure when you put the companion flange on that you preload the nut so it takes the "sloppines" out of the flange. Make sure not to use an impact gun b/c the jarring can damage the races of the pinion bearings. Also it wouldn't hurt to check the carrier bearings while you're working on it. I thought all that was wrong with mine would be the seal but turns out basically all the bearings were bad. Hope this helps!

Blackvenom01

ya my rearand howels like a wolf i think the previous owner threw everything in without using a micrometer to shim...so i might just have it all redone i dont wanna mess with the shimming lol..

1998mustangcobra

It's amazing how much noise they can make, I didn't realize how loud mine was until I got her fixed. Now she cruises like a champ after all that and the alum driveshaft. You'll be amazed at how much smoother everything will run lol and I love the red Termi by the way, a whippled or KB termi is my dream car!