Gears in a 96. just need a speedo gear?

[lman657]

Hey guys.

The High powerband and 3.27's is about to kill me on this car! Also, all the talk of how incredible 4.10's are is making me drool.

Anyways, as I understand it, on a 96 w/ a t-45, I can simply use a speedo gear to get my speedometer to read right, versus the 98 and newer must use a speedcal? If so, what size do I need?

Ooh, and does anyone have online specs and instructions for the gearswap? I don't care what everyone else says, i'm doing it myself! I've got access to the tools and 3 professional mechanics to bounce ideas off of.

Lastly, i'm at 68k miles, should I put new bearings in the rear end? In other words, the "deluxe" gear swap kits that are out there

Thanks guys!
Lance

 

[ChadS98GT]

I am not sure what gear you need...check out www.brothersperformance.com for the gear and the price...that's where I got mine.....

unless your experienced with rear-ends and swapping gears I would NOT recommend a novice doing the swap...it has to be perfect otherwise you will get vibrartion/whine/abnormal wear...and a whole slew of other potential problems not to mention having to do the install more than once....but if you want to try it go right ahead.....I have not seen any write ups on this due to difficulty of the install...

as far as bearings go....I would just wait and take a look at them..unless your not hurting for funds then you might as well swap them out while your in there.....mine were fine in my 98GT when I had the gears put in....I think I had probably around 40-50k miles...can't remember

 

[lman657]

Chad, I see your reasoning, but I've seen it done, and it's not rocket surgery. The biggest thing is getting the backlash set, and that's easily done with a magnetic base micrometer type gauge. got that. Also, I'm stubborn, and I've done everything else to my car, why spend 200 bucks now on someone else's labor? Thanks for the link!

Lance

 

[ChadS98GT]

Chad, I see your reasoning, but I've seen it done, and it's not rocket surgery. The biggest thing is getting the backlash set, and that's easily done with a magnetic base micrometer type gauge. got that. Also, I'm stubborn, and I've done everything else to my car, why spend 200 bucks now on someone else's labor? Thanks for the link!

Lance

Like I said...NOT recommended....but that is obviously up to you to decide...if you have seen it done and feel comfortable doing it then I say go for it....I am with you on saving every penny of labor costs.....but I have just seen a lot of people have problems with gear installs when they do it themselves...hell even shops sometimes do a ****ty job

but good luck and let us know how it turns out

 

[Red mustang Gt 46]

As far as speedo gears...99 and up use an electronic speed calibrator...your gonna need a 23 tooth white speedo gear and your speedo will be off by 5-7 MPH. For a 96-98 Romeo mod, I would suggest 3:73's only because of the flat power curve (dead at 5000PRM's). Just a Suggestion...and my experience...

 

[COramprat]

I had the speedo gear in my 96. The speedo was still off by about 10% with the gear so I bought a speed calibrator a year later. When I removed the gear to replace it with the original it was chewed all to hell. I was wondering why it seemed my speedometer was getting worse. Do yourself a favor and buy the speedcal. No need to add all of those unwanted extra miles to your car.

And I would strongly suggest you replace the bearings while you are in there. The carrier bearing tends to go bad prematurely (mine was making noise at 48K) on some cars so you may as well take care of it now.

 

[VincentL]

Hey, noob question here... Where is that gear installed? The previous owner had it installed with the 3.73 r&p, and didn't want to reprogram it. I am looking into a Diablo, so if I get one I'd like to toss the gear and let the computer compensate. But I have no idea where the gear is.

thanks!

 

[COramprat]

Hey, noob question here... Where is that gear installed? The previous owner had it installed with the 3.73 r&p, and didn't want to reprogram it. I am looking into a Diablo, so if I get one I'd like to toss the gear and let the computer compensate. But I have no idea where the gear is.

thanks!

It is in the tranny. There is a cable that runs down along the drivers side ( I think, I forgot even though I've been under there twice) and it is mounted to the tranny by one bolt. Remove that bolt, pull out the assembly, and you will have the gear.