Valcore

Ok heres how it goes. My traction Lock clutch is broken which causes me to do one wheel peels (which sucks) I don't realy even want new gears, but I figure if there gonna charge me a lot of money in labor i should just get the gears in at the same time. (373s) Well I called ford and they said they will charge only $216 for the Labor! but soon to find out that they want $380 for the parts .

Next, I called a Tuffys service center He said he would charge 315 for labor (which isn't too bad) but then when i mentioned the traction lock clutch he was like, "whelp, thats gonna increase the price," I say,"Well, I looked up the price in a catalog and it says its like 30 bucks" he says,"well its super labor intensive, your almost better off getting a whole new rear end. Its gonna add about 3 hours of labor" Then he started saying that axles might be bad, we need to inspect it yadda yadda yadda.... typical.

Now I don't know much about inside the rear end gear box of a car, so, is it tuff to install the traction lock? I don't see how it could be if you have the whole thing apart already.

Now im thinking mabey I should do it myself, how hard is it? I will have an extra car after the hollidays. idk

OK anyway now i have another question, Will my broken tlock hurt me BAD at the track? or will it not really matter since i can only launch at like 2000 (best)rpm with the stock stall? I was thinking that if it won't really matter I could just forget about the rear end and get a Intake manifold set up and throttal body..


wow Im sorry for the exreamly long post....
thank for the help!

Mac93

Why not buy the parts off line ad have the Ford dealer install them?

Valcore

yeah the only thing is I forgot to mention the tlock to them and i wonder if they will pull the same s****.

fourfivefour

If gears are installed wrong they will make noise and self destruct. Replacing the track loc clutches is not very difficult. Here is a link to replacing gears and rebuilding the track loc.
Take your time and pay attention to details and there is no reason why you can't do it your self. Also look in a shop manual or search the web for more info.
You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the link.
Replacing gears in an 8.8

nmerrill

^ yep, and make ure you use the right tools. The least bit off could be a disaster, but it is definately doable, i did it

fourfivefour

The dealer is not trying to rip you off that is just what they charge. Most every shop out there will charge you the List price on parts. The dealer charges somewhere in the nieghborhood of $90. an hour. Most shops will tell you they can't gaurentee the job unless they supply the parts.

Mac93

nmerrill, how long did it take you and did they turn out fine? Is it possible to just install new clutches w/out messing with gear lash?

fourfivefour

You can change gears and rebuild track lock in a few hrs. It is not a big job. They just need to be perfect.
Changing the clutches will not change the gear lash but it will change the clearance of the spider gears. The track loc kit comes with instructions. The track loc can be rebuilt without removing the carrier.

dimebag

i think its not to bad to replace the clutches, i was talking to my teacher(automotive class), and heres what he said i had to do

take out that pin in the center of it all
that "s" looking clip or w.e. u wanna call it gets taken out, he said channel locks will work fine, cuz its not under alota preasure, do that after you remove both c clips and slide the axles outa the way. then basically teh 4 little gears are all loose and will slide outa the way, and that the clutches are right behind them... replace them, and put it all back together

thats what he said it was... soundssimple enought to me, im gonna do it.

Valcore

uh i read that link with the list of tools, and it looks like I just don't have enough of that stuff to make it worth it... I guess I will just have ford do it and byte the bullit.

But what about the second part of my question? How bad will the one wheel peel hurt me at the track (launching at the max rpm for a stock stall converter. ~1900)? Because thats really my only concern about having broken t lock. Otherwise i will just get an intake manifold set up.