Since you can no longer find the Ford racing 7.5 gears, what do you guys think the best brand out there is to buy?

 

None of them. Upgrade to an 8.8" rear end. Stronger and lots of gear options. And it is cheaper to swap the rear end than it is to try and build the 7.5 - and then break it with nothing more than a tune and drag radials; worst modding decision I ever made was trying to build a 7.5.

 

Frpp or motive gears are best. Stay away from Richmond gears (noisey).

 

Any gearset can be noisy, new or used, if set up improperly. Ford knows this, of course, and makes several recommendations in their Shop Manuals over the years, one being slightly greater pinion bearing preload when re-using bearings. The final finishing of gear tooth surfaces during manufacturing has an effect. New Ford Part s gears years ago carried a warning regarding early "break-in", explaining the teeth were final-coated with a special phosphate coating:

"Manganese phosphate coatings are used for reducing wear and for improvement in the running-in of a gearbox. In the phosphating process, phosphoric acid pickles the suface and forms with Mn-ions a layer of phosphate crystals with high oil affinity. The dissolution of metal leads to pits in the surface, refered to as surface porosity. Surface porosity influences both gear noise and friction."

Such process represents additional mfg. cost, and may not be present with low-priced products. See: https://www.researchgate.net/publica...ss_Consequence

 

While you are correct Imp, Richmond gears, even when installed correctly have a propensity to whine. Maybe they don't have the proper coating your mention above or they don't simply have the quality the other brands have.

 

FRPP..
.

 

Thanks for the feedback guys. I will tell you that I have looked for an 8.8 for a decent price and I could not find one for less than $1500 or more even where I am at, in fact I have only found one junkyard in four states that even have mustang's. I already have a yukon duragrip, so for now I am just doing gears. Has anyone tried the Yukon gearsets?

 

Just did a quick search on car-part.com for Washington state:

8.8 with 3.55 gears: https://www.car-part.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi

8.8 with standard 3.31: https://www.car-part.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi

8.8 with 3.73 https://www.car-part.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi


I wish that my supplier who was getting me rear ends (and other take off parts) was still in business. He had great prices on new take off parts.

 

Each newly-made gearset is individually "lapped-in" by most manufacturers. This process ensures that microscopically-small high spots are "levelled off" to match both ring and pinion. Such processing may not be done by makers hoping to be able to undersell product of lower quality. Richmond may be one. I have mainly used, when employing brand-new gears, sets from Ford over the years. Re-setting used gears has often proved a bit frustrating, as contact patterns are occasionally all over the map.