wsherrard

We have a 2001 Mustang GT vert. My wife hit a water valve cover( how/why that was in the street I have no idea) that went end to end of the car it dented the exhaust in several places, knocked a huge dent in the driveshaft and finally broke this huge saddle shaped piece of metal that straddles the bottom of the differential and is held on by 2 bolts. Anyone have this thing? Anyone know what it is for. I see it in some pics and in some of the renderings in the shop manual but can't find it referenced anyplace. If you got one I'll buy it.

Urambo Tauro

Not sure what the proper term is for that thing. Some call it a "dogbone". The Ford manual doesn't even mention it or show it in any of the diagrams. Makes me wonder if it was added later as a TSB action or something. Weird...

I have seen it called a "horizontal vibration damper", or sometimes "rear axle drive line vibration damper". Any search for axle damper inevitably brings up shocks, but sometimes this part comes up too. This Tasca listing shows conflicting information in its pictures, so I'm not sure if that part number can be trusted.

Anyway... from what I've heard, it's there to help dampen against NVH problems in that area. Some owners remove it to shed weight. Some say removing it increases NVH, while others don't notice a difference at all.

08'MustangDude

Yes, It's there to reduce drive-line noise and vibration.

wsherrard

Thanks for the info guys. That TASCA listing Urambo sent is the piece that was broken. If anyone happens to see this and has one they want to sell leave a note.

99GTvert

Have you considered an aluminum driveshaft to replace the current driveshaft? Those have less vibration, which could possibly mean that HVD may not be necessary.

wsherrard

Yes, got one on order since the other one has a huge dent in it. Also found the damper on EBAY so things are coming together.

Urambo Tauro

Great! When it comes in, would you mind looking to see if there's a part number on it somewhere? That Tasca listing shows the "dogbone" in the first pic, but in the second pic it's clearly pointing to the axle damper shock.

wsherrard

In addition tho the previously mentioned stuff I got down there looking again and the differential is leaking now. Looks like that damn thing caught the bottom of the differential cover on the way out the back, bent it a bit and broke the RTV seal so got to fix that too. The aluminum drive shaft came in today, those Summit guys are on the ball. Putting a gasket back on that cover, it is supposed to be here tomorrow.