Hate Rear Gears

[94-302-vert]

OK, first some history: Had gears installed by a shop for $400 for everything (parts, etc) back in the end of March. I notice the rear end is shining at higher speeds. To me it sounds like the D/S so I tell the guy but start my suspension work as I know that is shot and a bad D/S angle can give me these problems.

Then it progressively went from a whine to banging, whining, sjtu soundling horrible within a few hundred miles (800 or so). I take it back to the guy for a test drive and he says it sounds like a bad pinion bearing. We made the decision to not change any bearings since the originals seemed fine. So I bought a bearing kit and paid him ($120 for the full kit and $80 install) to install them. The one day project got delayed and ended up taking him 2 days to do.

So I pick up the car on Saturday after it is not ready on Friday, and drive it the 50 miles home. Still has some whine to it.

Then I took it to work yesterday. On the 50 miles in it seemed OK, then on the drive home it started clunking again....

ARGHHH.... At this point I am fairly confident that the guy that did the install is an idiot....

I am really thinking he went to tight when tightening the pinion nut then backed it off relieveing the pre-load on the bearings. Can I change the crush washer without going into the rear end?

Chris

 

[JJ95GTID]

No, the crush collar goes in with the pinion gear from inside the housing.

 

[94-302-vert]

Does this sound like the right symptom though? It sounds like the driveshaft is banging around under the car.

I checked the driveshaft when i did my suspension install it it seemed fins eo unless the driveshaft bolts are loose I think it is in the rear end.

I haven't even started to put any power through it either...

Chris

 

[wytstang]

Sound like a bad install.....

 

[for_honor]

Man, no good advice for you but it sounds like that guy had something so far up a place he couldn't see the light of day! I never had problems like this with my gears after an install. If I were you I'd be looking for some form of $$$ reimbersement, may even have to get a little ugly. That's just me though...sorry for all the problems your having though

 

[94-302-vert]

I hear ya. First step is to get the car fixed. If I can do it mydelf all the better.

Then I can deal with trying to get some of my $$ back for the near 2 months of pain....

CHris

 

[94-302-vert]

At this point I am commited to fixing it myself. Assuming the gears and bearisngs are asll still good what do I need, jsut fluid and a crush sleeve?

Chris

 

[GRGT1994]

If you are going to do it yourself, you might need to pick up or borrow a few tools. Like maybe an inch pound torque wrench (1 to 60 inch pound range), and a dial indicator to measure backlash. I'm assuming you have Ford Racing gears. If not, you may need a pinion depth tool (at which point you are getting pretty expensive and complex, and it maybe easier and cheaper just to pick up Ford gears so you can rely on the master head dimension (or whatever its called)).

Mo_Dingo has a great post on gears, with links to some good walk throughs. It even survived the crash.

You will probably want a new crush collar, because he may have f'ed that up. Also, get some of the gear pattern grease so you can check the gear mesh. You might also want to pick up a shim pack.

I guess if i were you, I would run through a tear down and reinstall. And set everything back to spec.

Sucks to hear what you are going through. Think about going back to the guy right away and demand your money back. Waiting will do nothing for you, and it might just work against you. Maybe you can work out a deal (like he refunds your money or pays half or all of the cost to get a dealer or a reputable shop to do the install right). Good luck.

 

[mo_dingo]

Anytime you remove the pinion, you need to replace the crush collar. You can get them at NAPA. They call them "bearing spacers" though.

It's so damn easy to install gears, I don't know how you could screw it up.

Take it back, tell him that it's still whining, and you will not take the car back until it's correct.
Scott

 

[94-302-vert]

I tried that the last time and it took the guy a week to work it in and almost a week to fix it (it was there for 3 days and he used 2 of them to actually work on it).

At this point I am willing to cut my losses if I have to to get it done right...

I just want my darn car back...

Thanks guys, I am going to try checking the pinion tightness in a few minutes...

Chris

 

[tderrick]

I feel your pain, bro! Nothings worse than idiots working on your ride. Followed imediately buy guys that don't give a ****!....

Sorry, but " this to, will pass"

 

[94-302-vert]

Well I got under tha car Saturday and found that the rotational torque for the pinion was only 1-1.5 in-lb, nowhere near where it should be. So my buddy and I torqued it down to get it to the 18-20 in-lb it should be for a basically new bearing. I hope this does it.

We took it for a ride and it still has gear noise at 70-85 mph then it goes away. I am not surprised as the car was driven for 1200 or so miles on the first bad install so they have to have a pretty bad wear pattern in them.

Chris