Re & re rear axle: How big a job?

[trinity_gt]

When talking to my now-favorite shop (which is really a race-engine & machine shop) I was offered a pretty good deal to install gears in the rear axle of my 02 GT if I brought them the whole rear end instead of the car. Now, to me this doesn't sound too big a job:

- pop out the driveshaft
- calipers, PB cables and hoses off axle & hung up out of the way
- remove coils
- shock bolts
- LCA and UCA bolts at axle
- axle falls out of car onto chest

My car has not seen a winter so I wouldn't anticipate any corrosion issues getting bolts out. I don't expect any problems getting the brake hoses demounted from the axles so...is it really as easy as it appears? What am I missing?

There's just something inherently "overwhelming" about removing the entire axle from the car and then riding down the highway a day later at 80MPH with all those jesus-bolts back there

 

[bdcardinal]

haha, its a pretty straightforward job. its a lot easier because of the solid axle, however pulling the IRS assembly is fairly straightforward as well. i would rather do the swap where i get a new diff as well because i could properly clean and then paint the new diff (im weird like that).

 

[Cobra Jay]

It's pretty simple. It took me about 1 1/2, but that was up on a lift with a rear axle jack stand for support.

If you're going to just do a gear swap and you don't have access to a lift, I'd just pay the extra $ and save yourself the trouble and have them do the job with the axle in the car. It's not that hard of a job at all, but I wouldn't want to do it with just jack stands and a floor jack.

 

[jbrown]

how much do they want to charge you with you bringing them the axle versus bringing them the car. Taking off the axle seems like a pitb. Labor should be like 200.

 

[trinity_gt]

jb, I can get a deal on both the parts and the labour because I do some PCM programming/tuning on the owners' truck. The labour will be less than $200 and the parts, including the installation kit, bearings and all that can be sourced via a parts-buying network they belong to at cost. I should be able to get FRPP gears, for instance, quite a bit cheaper than if I were to walk into a Ford dealer myself.

GTJ, yeah, I hear that. This isn't set in stone and I'll mull it over the winter. I'd really rather not haul the axle out if I could but the deal is pretty sweet in terms of $$$. If I recall, the summer I got the car (03 I guess), I went to Sean Hyland and was quoted something like $CDN900 to put gears in it... If I can cut that by more than 65% and it means pulling the rear end, I'll give that a try.

 

[tygr1]

It's called 'R&R', not Re&Re. LOL

 

[huesmann]

Rest and Recuperation.

Seems like more trouble to pull the whole axle than to just drop off the car...

 

[Dark Knight GT]

I rememeber when I had my rear axle work done. We swapped the 28 spline setup for a 31 spline setup, installed new 4.30 ring and pinion gears, put in a full bearing and seal kit, swapped for an alumium d/s, and then put a new differential cover on. All in all, the work was about 8hrs to do all of this. Not too bad.

Yes, it would be easier to do a complete rear end swap in terms of time and labor, however, it's going to be very expensive for a completely new rear end for your car.

 

[Slider]

I pulled the whole thing to install all new bearings and seals, 4.10's, differential, axles, and new control arms (cost me about $1200 in parts, I did all the labor/installing). It just seemed easier to take it out to do all that stuff. To be honest taking the rear end out is actually pretty easy. The only thing that you need to do special is have something to support the axles assembly and keep it from moving/rotating during removal/install. I just made a wooden bracket setup to put on top of my floor jack. If you are not affraid to do it, then I say go for it. It should take about 1.5 to 3 hours to get it out if you take your time.