I already bought 3.73 gears, t-loc and 23tooth speed'o gear for my 7.5inch rearend. But my mechanic has an 8.8inch compleate rearend from a 96GT with factory gears "I dont know what the factor gears are in those or ifit came with limited slip or not".I got 3question's. What should I do.Send back the stuff I just bought and go with the GT rearend? Whatare the PRO's and CON's of each setup?If I decided to put in a 4.6 later on would I need the 8.8 rearend or would the 7.5 do?

 

well to figure out what the diff is take a look at the differential tag on the cover.

If it reads 2L73 then it is a Limited slip with 2.73 gears, if it says 3L08 then its a Limited slip with 3.08 gears, get the patern now?
There are two sentence lines on the tag, the begining bottom sentence line is where that info is.

If there is no L between the numbers then it is not a limited slip, though I dont think any GT's of that year came with an open rear end.

 

First off what year is your car? I assume it's an sn-95 due to the fact that you got a speedo gear.To figure out the gear ratio turn the axle hub 1 revolution and count how many time the pinion flange turns, that will be your gear ratio. If you can't read the tag, remove the diff cover, it may need new
fluid anyway, it'll be obvious if it has limited slip or not.

It's tough to say what to do, because you just bought the gear ratio you wanted and a brand new t-lok, what you're getting may not be all that great and you'll most likely have to buy gears for it anyway.

 

Mine is a 96 and the donor GT is also a 96. Let me make this a little more simple. What gears came Factor on the GT Mustangs of 1996? If i get the 8.8inch from it I will have to keep whatever gears are in there. I just bought 3.73's for my 7.5inch. So what would be better the 8.8 or the 7.5 (lets say the 8.8 is the stock gearing).

 

I have a 95' GT rear that has 2.73 gears in it and I think that 96 was also the same for the GT with an optional 3.08 and I think 3.27. Not 100% sure.

I also have a 96' Cobra rear which had 3.27 gears stock.

 

Man that sucks. So I should just stick with the 7.5 and the new gears I just got huh? Oh and would this set up be able to handle a 4.6 (7.5inch rear, 3.73 gears with T-Loc)? That is if I ever get up enough money to do that.

 

cobra232 is always saying the 7.5, if built properly, can handle a lot of abuse. unless u are planning 300+whp, i think your 7.5 with new gears and a t-lok should be good, my friend.

 

How much does the guy want for the 8.8? I wouldn't pay over $300 for it.

 

I don't know how much it'd be. The guy hasn't been in yet to change out his 8.8 for a 9inch complete. It would be up to that guy not the mechanic. I should fine out something coming week. I got the Ford Racing T-Loc two day's ago but the Gears are not here yet However I did talk to the guys at my body shop Rice Auto Body who build and race Mustangs and they told me for what im looking for my 7.5 would be fine even with an ATI Procharger it'll hold up as long as I don't use slicks and dump at or under 2,000 revs. So basically Performance street tires "but not super stickies" for street race's and I'll be good.

 

if you have a 5 spd that t-lok will only last for so long even on street tires and stock powr with clutch drops it's gonna break eventually.

no way in hell the 7.5 T-lok will hold for long on a 5spd with a procharger. i went through 2 t-loks now on my procharged auto 98.

run the 7.5 t-lok for now. it will be OK on your stock power. add more power and you will have to go to a detroit truetrac in the 7.5. after that it will be ready for 450ishrwhp or more. nobody know yet because nobody has broken a 7.5 detroit yet.

the t-lok isn't a performance part. yes ford racing sells them but it's just the same exact t-lok that was used in old bronco II's and rangers with it's huge 120hp 2.9L v6. it wasn't designed to handle alot of power and the main reason ford switched to the 8.8 in the stang in the mid 80's from the 7.5 as the 5.0's power approached 200hp. with the detroit the 7.5 is just fine built and blown/turbo'd v6 or V8 swap. plus it's lighter than the 8.8. the only drawback is there is no 31 spline diffeentials for the 7.5 but either Alloy USA or Superior Evolution hardened 28 spline axles will be enough for any power your likely gonna ever run through it