Okay I have a 98 GT 5 speed w/ the horrible 2.73 rear end. I'm wondering can someone spell out every part and every other little thing i need in my hands if i want to go to a gear shop and tell them "here, install" I'm looking at 3.73's too if that helps
Are you sure they're 2.73s? I didn't know they put those in Mustangs. My guess'd be thy're 3.27s. All you need is the ring & pinion & a shim kit. The shop can find rear-end fluid.
Bare minimum (assuming you don't need a rebuild kit and have fairly low mileage on your GT - say less than 60,000 miles):
3 quarts of Ford Differential fluid (check the tag on your diff for what weight you should use) The 99+ definitely take a synthetic gear oil - probably same with yours as well.
1 bottle of Ford Friction modifier
One new pinion bearing (I think these are difficult to remove without breaking them/damaging them, so just get a new one - they are cheap.)
One set of FRPP gears
You might need a shim kit, but if you take it to a shop that installs tons of rear end gears (lots of Ford 8.8 diff gear assemblies) you might get lucky and not need to buy a shim kit since they probably have a ton of extra shims laying around the shop.
I might not have the correct name of the bearing assembly you need. . . can anyone confirm this for him?
I got my 4.10s installed for $315 (not including any parts.) Didn't need to buy extra shims either.
What am I missing?????? Can anyone else chime in for this guy?
I would say that your car probably has 3.08 or 3.27 gears in it. I'm not real sure. What I would do if I was taking it to a shop and saying here install this, is to get the FRPP ring and pinion, and a FRPP install kit that comes with all of the bearings, shims, seals, crush sleeve and gaskets. Also, since the car has some age on it, you might want to think about getting a clutch kit for the locking differential. This will be an easy install since they will already have your rear-end apart changing the gears. You can pick one of these up at the dealership for about $80. You will also need some gear oil and some traction modifier as said above.
I did mine w/my dad and we bought the Ratech shim and bearing kit. Since my bearings has a few years on them we decided to do it, 7 years old and only 40,000 on the ody not too bad. Get a differential cover while your havin the gears done. Save you money from buying one after and wasing all that fluid. I used Royal Purple in mine and a bottle of friction modifier. FRPP 3.73's I'm one of the few that's glad he didnt get 4.10's w/no spare, trunk carpetting, backseat's and such tractions a rarity.