has anyone installed their own gears....

[MI95Cobra]

does anyone know how to install gears??? what all i would need to do it myself???? i have a set of 3:73 gears in my garage that i had puchased for my brother when he had his 89 gt (me and my wife helped pay for that), before he traded it for a 95 dodge dakota anyway we never got around to having them installed, i had gears put in my 92 gt (by a mechanic) a few years ago before recently i sold it to buy my cobra.....i was told i had to have a press to put in gears, but then someone the other day told me all i needed to put in gears myself was a automotive manual...is this true????

 

[94-302-vert]

If they are ford racing gears you will need a press or at least a new pinion bearing that you can massage onto it. Shimming and all are covered pretty easily. Then it is basic hand tools and a lot of time. I wish I had jsut done mine myself in the first place.

http://www.corral.net/tech/drivetrain/gears.html

 

[divit250r]

If they are ford racing gears you will need a press or at least a new pinion bearing that you can massage onto it. Shimming and all are covered pretty easily. Then it is basic hand tools and a lot of time. I wish I had jsut done mine myself in the first place.

http://www.corral.net/tech/drivetrain/gears.html

I did my own, and the press is used to put on new bearings, both the pinion and the differential case. If you're going to have it apart, I'd put new axle bearings and seals in too. The special tools I used were a dial indicator to check backlash, and a magnetic dial indicator base. Other than that it was just your normal tools.

Scott

 

[v6v8swap]

You can get the dial indicator and magnetic base at Harbor Freight for like $15. The Harbor Freight store in OKC is on Reno just west of MacArthur. That's where I got mine. Try to see if you can find the video that Richmond gears put out (Summit Racing has it) about installing gears. It's pretty good to get you familiar with what's involved; but it is in no way a complete install "How To". There's some good how-tos that I found on the internet, but I can't remember where I found them. I did my own gears in the 7.5" (same as 8.8"), it does take a while and mine still whine just a little bit. I should pull them and reset the side shims again, but I'm kinda looking for an 8.8 to put in it anyway. Good luck

 

[mo_dingo]

If the gears are not FFRP, you need to measure pinion depth, which means you need a pinion depth tool. Summit sells this tool for 50-60 I believe.

If they are FRPP, they will be a piece of cake. You will need a press for the pinion bearing, or freeze the pinion gear and boil the bearing. That works too. indicator + mag. base is necessary for adjusting backlash with the pinion shims.

It's all very simple. You just need to be educated.

http://www.angelfire.com/theforce/5ohcpa/cpa5ohtech001.htm

That is another writeup. It has a lot of pics and useful information. I would read it through at least 10 times to absorb everything.
Scott

 

[HISSIN50]

I'd add that even with FRPP gears, check the last letter - if it's M, you might not get so lucky with a nearly plug-and-play situation.

Good luck.

 

[MI95Cobra]

they are ford racing 3:73 gears.....

 

[AznStanger3v]

if you have a lift and press handy, it should fly by. it usually takes me about 1hour 45 - 2hours. thats with running a wear pattern, checking backlash, all that jazz. although, it helps that ive done it about 20 times. its all in the feel, then you double check with your tools.

 

[red95gtconvert]

It is not overly difficult to do if you have access to a dial indicator, torque wrenches and a bearing seperator. To install the pinion bearing just put the bearing in the oven @200 degrees for a half an hour or so, put the factory shim off the old pinion gear onto the new pinion gear, remove the bearing from the oven and slide it down the pinion shaft.

 

[GRGT1994]

I did it myself, and that was the first real modification I did (other than cat back). So it definitely can be done. But don't kid yourself, it's involved - especially if you haven't done much wrenching. And it definitely takes more than -standard- hand tools.

I suggest you read up on the procedure more before jumping right in. There are plenty of good writeups on this forum, and you can find links to several others. Use the search. I think MoDingo had a great write up some time ago. Read at least 2 or 3 full walk through writeups, and that will give you an idea if you want to do it yourself. (read a few because everyone leaves something out)

A few things to keep in mind. This is definitely not an hour and a half job if it's your first time. Plan on a good day. You don't need a press, there are work arounds (heating/freezing parts), and you can just take the pinion down to a shop (got mine pressed for free). You will need some specialized tools (inch pound torque wrench, dial caliper and mag base, precise caliper for measuring shims, bearing/race driver). Of course, you can use that stuff again, but when I added up all the stuff I needed, I was at or above the cost of having a shop do the work. So make a realistic list of tools you need, and keep the costs in mind.

I don't mean to scare you off, but when I read the posts above, some of them seem to make it sound like rotating tires. It's not.

 

[Yobi1Kanobi]

Well here is my take out of all of us that have done it ourselves alot of us ended up with a "WHINE"...I did it and i was familiar with wrenching. And the problem is once you get the "WHINE" it will cost you a new set of gears and install. I say by the time you buy the tools you need your half way to paying somebody to do it....

 

[mo_dingo]

Well here is my take out of all of us that have done it ourselves alot of us ended up with a "WHINE"...I did it and i was familiar with wrenching. And the problem is once you get the "WHINE" it will cost you a new set of gears and install. I say by the time you buy the tools you need your half way to paying somebody to do it....

With all honesty, I would say that the only people that ended up with gear whine used non-fms gears. Because it's difficult to screw up the backlash/pinion depth with fms gears. Or they didn't understand the writeup articles.

JT, what does the M signify? I have never heard of that.

The only tools I needed to buy was the indicator/base, bearing removal tool, new locking bolt for diff, extra set of crush collars, which ended up around $60 total. I had everything else, or if I didn't, I needed it anyway.
Scott

 

[GRGT1994]

The only tools I needed to buy . . . I had everything else, or if I didn't, I needed it anyway.
Scott

What exactly do you need a light weight, inch pound torque wrench for other than measuring pinion preload? Seriously, I doubt I will ever use that again.

Just curious.

 

[HISSIN50]

From what I've been told, some of the 'new' Ford gears part # ends with M, which means they are Motive gears.

 

[MI95Cobra]

let me ask this, how different are the gears from nowadays to the late 60's mustangs....i was talking it over today with my father (he's old school when it comes to cars) and we argued about needing a press to install the gears.....he wasn't understanding what was needed... after some more research he's going to help me install them....oohhhh god.....