Very nice writeup. And congrats on getting the install done. The special tools are absolutely required as mentioned!

+1 on doing it with the rear end out of the car. It's a real PITA working on it under the car.

Tearing down the carrier spyder gears is not essential for a simple gear swap. But overhauling the friction pack and/or replacing shipped gears, well, that's different.

The best way to remove and install the bearings is with a press. Some local auto parts stores will have one you can take your parts into and press on/remove. A helluva lot easier than driving on bearings and cutting them off.

I've done 3 gear jobs on s197 rear ends, using frpp gears each time. I skipped the separate pre-load/tear down, and just set the preload in one step while installing the pinion. Of course the pinion shim was the same and didnt need changing, which helped. (Each FRPP gear set worked out that way for me.)

Hopefully you used loctite on all the bolts (ring gear, pinion nut, shaft bolt, etc.).

A nice upgrade while doing a gear swap is putting on a girdle cover as well.

Getting the ring gear backlash right is critical for preventing whine.

Again, nicely done!

 

Yeah I used Loctite on everything. Some of the parts came with threadlocker already on them like the pinion nut and the pinion shaft bolt but I put red loctite on the ring gear bolts and i'm pretty sure I put it on the carrier bearing cap bolts.

What exactly is the point in the girdle cover? I always though that it was just a fancy diff housing cover with steeda written on it and a $250 price tag.

 

Thanks for the awesome write up. I have been considering this mod for a couple of months. I searched the internet for a good write up. Then I found this forum(which is awesome) and so I searched it and found your write up. Yours is the most detailed I have seen by far and has given me the confidence to do this myself. Thanks again for taking the time to be so detailed and take so many picks.

 

Very impressive write-up

 

Best writeup I've seen. I have done a few gears in similar fashion but I like the way you covered the Master Housing Dimension by simply measuring the old pinion head and shim to measure the new head and determine the new pinion shim start point. Definitely a Favorites or Bookmark page for me.

 

Didn't see this before today. Very impressive write up and great job tackling that!!!

For me? Digging into a diff is like saying, "Ya know what hun, that does make your butt look fat!"

 

for me best $400 i spent to qualified shop to do in 4 hours..

 

I have a 2008 mustang gt and i just bought some 4.10 gears. im jus wondering how much im gonna loose off my top end. And how much quicker am i gonna be off the line??

 

Do most performance shops pull out the rear axl to do this? If so Id love to sand and paint the whole axl. Has anyone done this?

Thanks
Kevin

 

I can't give you actual numbers on either top end loss or acceleration gain. I can't speak at all to how much you'll lose off the top end because I've never hit it. I'll let someone braver than me speak to that. Acceleration gains are awesome I'm not sure how much it takes off of 0-60 times or anything but first gear throws you into the seat nicely.

I don't think most shops would pull the axle out because they can lift the car high enough to work comfortably underneath. I have seen people sand and paint the whole axle and it looks pretty slick. The site that I pulled most of my info from painted it black just to blend in but I think it would be cool to paint it white to look like the fr500 and really stand out.
this is the link: http://www.angelfire.com/theforce/5o...5ohtech008.htm