Transmission shop may have not installed the gears they said they did..one year later
07-07-2009, 07:14 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2008
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Posts: 11
Transmission shop may have not installed the gears they said they did..one year later
About a year ago I had gears installed in my car, there were several issues which were chronicled in a previous thread
https://mustangforums.com/forum/4-6-...installed.html
I had a suspicion that the he didn't install the 4.10s like he said he did. But I never really had any real proof or anything that would really point to the gears not being 4.10s. I used the tuner to calibrate the speedometer and it seemed a little off, but I never take any trips in the Mustang more than 20 miles in length so it's hard to tell for sure if the speedometer/odometer was right.
Last month I took the Mustang on a 125 mile trip. On other cars, using the exact same route, non-stop the trip is 124-127 miles. My Mustang's trip odometer said the trip was 103 miles. A difference of about 20%, which seems out of the realm of acceptable tolerances. Today I decided to set rear end ratio value to 3.89 and go for drive on a 20 mile stretch of highway, mile post to mile post. The odometer is close, it reads a little over 19 miles traveled. So I input a 3.73 value and the odometer is damn close, it reads 20.2 miles traveled for the same route.
I'm pretty sure the guy put in 3.73's instead of the 4.10s I paid for. I don't know if after a year anything can be done though, statute of limitations and all that. If I pursue this further, I was thinking about first having another shop verify the gears aren't 4.10s, and if that is indeed the case, ask they guy for a refund, and having 4.10s put in at another shop. I have all my receipts handy from him and from American Muscle. I'm just not sure if there's anything legally that can be enforced after a year's time.
Any ideas?
https://mustangforums.com/forum/4-6-...installed.html
I had a suspicion that the he didn't install the 4.10s like he said he did. But I never really had any real proof or anything that would really point to the gears not being 4.10s. I used the tuner to calibrate the speedometer and it seemed a little off, but I never take any trips in the Mustang more than 20 miles in length so it's hard to tell for sure if the speedometer/odometer was right.
Last month I took the Mustang on a 125 mile trip. On other cars, using the exact same route, non-stop the trip is 124-127 miles. My Mustang's trip odometer said the trip was 103 miles. A difference of about 20%, which seems out of the realm of acceptable tolerances. Today I decided to set rear end ratio value to 3.89 and go for drive on a 20 mile stretch of highway, mile post to mile post. The odometer is close, it reads a little over 19 miles traveled. So I input a 3.73 value and the odometer is damn close, it reads 20.2 miles traveled for the same route.
I'm pretty sure the guy put in 3.73's instead of the 4.10s I paid for. I don't know if after a year anything can be done though, statute of limitations and all that. If I pursue this further, I was thinking about first having another shop verify the gears aren't 4.10s, and if that is indeed the case, ask they guy for a refund, and having 4.10s put in at another shop. I have all my receipts handy from him and from American Muscle. I'm just not sure if there's anything legally that can be enforced after a year's time.
Any ideas?
07-07-2009, 07:51 PM
#4
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location:
Posts: 11
I'll fill in the rest of the story since I never posted the resolution of the first go-round with the gears.
Originally (last year) when the gears were initially installed, they produced a ton of gear whine. The guy who did the install swore he got it right and claimed that the noise had to be coming from the transmission (which had never previously made any noise). I didn't believe him, so I took the car to two other mechanics to listen to and they both said that the noise was definitely coming from the rear end and it was likely that guy didn't get the install right or maybe the gears were defective. So I go back to the transmission shop, and tell him that I didn't think that the noise was coming from the transmission and neither did anyone else I talked to. He said that he wanted to take another crack at setting up the rear end, and he'd do it for free. I agreed to let him try again. The next day he said that he put in another set of gears that he happened to have on hand and that now it's quiet as stock. Which it is. He charged me for the gears he installed and said to return the gears I bought from American Muscle because they were defective. I did and American Muscle verified the gears were indeed defective and issues a refund for them.
However with the issue with the speedometer/odometer accuracy, I'm now thinking that the gears he happened to have laying around weren't 4.10s.
Originally (last year) when the gears were initially installed, they produced a ton of gear whine. The guy who did the install swore he got it right and claimed that the noise had to be coming from the transmission (which had never previously made any noise). I didn't believe him, so I took the car to two other mechanics to listen to and they both said that the noise was definitely coming from the rear end and it was likely that guy didn't get the install right or maybe the gears were defective. So I go back to the transmission shop, and tell him that I didn't think that the noise was coming from the transmission and neither did anyone else I talked to. He said that he wanted to take another crack at setting up the rear end, and he'd do it for free. I agreed to let him try again. The next day he said that he put in another set of gears that he happened to have on hand and that now it's quiet as stock. Which it is. He charged me for the gears he installed and said to return the gears I bought from American Muscle because they were defective. I did and American Muscle verified the gears were indeed defective and issues a refund for them.
However with the issue with the speedometer/odometer accuracy, I'm now thinking that the gears he happened to have laying around weren't 4.10s.
07-08-2009, 11:38 AM
#6
Pull the cover and count the teeth on the Pinion and the Ring gear. After you get the 2 numbers Divide the Ring gear # by the pinion gear # example on a 4.10 set you should have 41 teeth on the Ring and 10 teeth on the pinion. so 41/10 = 4.10
Some gears even have what they are on the face of the pinion gear.
Some gears even have what they are on the face of the pinion gear.
07-08-2009, 11:40 AM
#7
5th Gear Member
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: same as you.
Posts: 3,287
Well, u just answered ur own question.. he had some Gears He had laying around the shop... You said Sure.... 1 year later your bringing this up??
Use ur tuner, Tune it for 3.73's... Does the Mileage Fix/Work? Cruise next to another car and Various speeds, Does the Speedo Match? While Cruising with the other car both reset your odometers.
Use ur tuner, Tune it for 3.73's... Does the Mileage Fix/Work? Cruise next to another car and Various speeds, Does the Speedo Match? While Cruising with the other car both reset your odometers.
07-08-2009, 02:08 PM
#8
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location:
Posts: 11
Well, u just answered ur own question.. he had some Gears He had laying around the shop... You said Sure.... 1 year later your bringing this up??
Use ur tuner, Tune it for 3.73's... Does the Mileage Fix/Work? Cruise next to another car and Various speeds, Does the Speedo Match? While Cruising with the other car both reset your odometers.
Use ur tuner, Tune it for 3.73's... Does the Mileage Fix/Work? Cruise next to another car and Various speeds, Does the Speedo Match? While Cruising with the other car both reset your odometers.
The thing is that he said he put in another set of 4.10s that he had laying around, he didn't ask if I wanted it done, he just did it without telling me , he didn't charge for the install on those, he did charge me for the gears, which was fine.
With the tuner set at 4.09, the Speedo/odor was about 20% off. With it set at 3.90 is was closer, with it set at 3.73 it's within 2% of being dead on according to the mile markers on the highway, I made two 20 mile runs, and both ways the trip odometer showed 20.3 miles traveled which is close enough for me. The speedometer should be just as correspondingly accurate.
I'm tempted to just let it go. But part of me still wants to know for sure that my suspicions are correct. I talked to a buddy who's in law enforcement last night and said that legally speaking, I could pursue it if I wanted, the statue of limitations is a couple years. I'm just not sure if it's worth it.
07-08-2009, 02:15 PM
#9
4th Gear Member
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Shelbyville, Indiana
Posts: 1,088
You don't have to pull the cover. Just put the back of the car on jack stands. Put a chalk mark on one wheel and the drive shaft. Put the transmission in neutral. Turn the wheel one complete turn and count the number of times the driveshaft goes around. If it goes around 3 and 3/4 times then you have 3.73 gears. If it goes around a little more than 4 times then you have 4.10 gears.
It's the only way to know for sure.
It's the only way to know for sure.
07-08-2009, 02:57 PM
#10
I told him to pull the cover because it is the only way to be 100% positive. Sure you can do the drive shaft thing or put different # into his tuner but why not take 15 minutes out of his day pull the cover Look at the gears and put some Royal Purple in it and call it a day.