Wes8398

I've had a small noise bothering me since i've had my car (for a month or so now) which I finally had diagnosed by a mechanic today. He took the car for a spin and said he's sure it's one of the bearings in the rear end, but he wont know exactly what one till he's got it all apart. He said it could be up to like $300 in labour (I get the parts from NAPA for cheap, so I said I'd supply those) which is waaaay more then I can afford right now.
He suggested to purchase a "bearing kit" which has 4 bearings included in it (he said about $100), plus buy the 2 axel bearings (wasn't sure of a price) and all the seals (again not sure of the price, but said it would be minimal). He said he'd only replace what needed to be done, so I could return what wasn't used, but suggested just to do all the bearings while he was in there.

Anyway, I'm just wondering how advanced this job is to do on my own ... I don't have any specialty tools or anything, but I could always find one if one's needed. I want to save myself the money and do the job myself, but not if it's going to be a big deal and way over my head. I'm gonna have a look through my Haynze tonight and get an idea of what's all involved, but I wanted some opinions from you folks if you could.

Cornbread01

if you dont know what your doing on gears then dont do pay the money ang have it be right

Colorado_Mustang

Most likely an axle bearing and not a ring/pinion bearing. Generally, they are press fit but don't take too long to change. You won't be messing with the gears, but you do have to take off the rear cover to remove the C-clips that hold the axle. Pick up a shop manual and it should walk you through the process. You'll only need a machine shop to change out the bearings themselves ($15 last time I had it done to a 9" Ford).

2VNA

sounds a little spendy, I am doing the same thing and my tear down and install with gears is 200. I am supplying the parts. The bearing kit he is talking about is right about 100 Mustangtuners has it.

Wes8398

I have a couple friends who are back yard mechanics (one builds cars from the ground up and wins tonnes of shows with them, and the other was a mechanic at Ford and now has another job but does on-the-side stuff at his house). I'll talk to them and see if they're up for the job. The Ford guy only charged me $120 to intsall a new clutch and CV axle on my old car...he's cheap as hell. I posted this same thread on a few other forums and lots of people are saying that it's highly UNlikely to be the pinion or differential bearings that are shot ... so it's most likely to be the axel bearing. I don't know if I should just buy the axel bearings for now, or get everything and hope I can return what I don't use.

2VNA - Does that kit include the axle bearings? Or only the pinion and carrier bearings/seals? I have yet to find a kit that includes the axle bearings as well.

2VNA

This is the kit I have
http://www.mustangtuning.com/rearendrebuild.html
and it's on sale
21201Regular price: $89.99Sale price: $74.99

it does not have the dust covers or the axel bearings.