Rear End went out on me

[fox1x]

Okay, this is my first time on this site, and this is my first Mustang. I just bought a 2000 GT about 5 days ago. I hear a rotational howling/whining sound after I purchased the car and assumed it was U-Joints. $26 later and about 2 hours worth of labor with a buddy and we had them in. Took the car out for a drive, the noise was still present. We coulnd't figure out what it was so we took it to Tireman for a free estimate. Tey took the car out for a spin, came back and said the rear end was on it's last leg. They want $2000 for a used one and the labor to put it in.
Needless to say, they are not getting $2000. A buddy from work is going to let me use his garage and lift and we will put one in. The problem is, I can't seem to locate a rear end for the car. I figured since Mustangs grow on trees, and every other car I pass seems to be a Mustang that it would be easy to find remanufacted ones, or there would be like 4 bagillion on E-Bay, I was wrong. I searched this site but found nothing really on what I was loooking for. I'm fairly confident the install will be pretty easy; however, does anyone know of any company's or sources where I could find a good used rear end? Like I said, I just bought the car not even a week ago so I do not want to spend ginormous amounts of cash. I want to stick with a stock rear end for now, I don't want to upgrade to 4.10's as of this moment (maybe at another time, then I can use the stock for a back up) Thanks for your time.

Kris

 

[Justin03GT]

that howl could be(and probably is ) associated with the gear set, chances are it has a non-stock set of gears in there already and they are whining...which some gears will do....to check for gears, just jack up the back of the car and rotate the driveshaft counting the # of times the tires go around to 1 driveshaft revolution, if its more than 3 and a 1/4, then you dont have stock gearing in the car and is probably the source of the whining...

 

[Jackie Chan]

stock rears are all over the corral and depot. you can use any 28spline 8.8 from any ford if you are just replacing the diff. but like already said could be gears or something else

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Meh, let it go till it dies... Probably just gear whine from a bad gear install. They could very well last a long time like that

 

[Jackie Chan]

yeah right,
'last legs" to me is when it blows up going down the track

it only cost me about 500 bucks for mosers/4.10s/31 spline diff and install to get back on the road

 

[Justin03GT]

yea i cant believe some place wanted $2000 for a rear end job...thats nuts, parts dont cost that much and it isnt that hard to do without a lift...bastards

 

[fox1x]

So you guys are suggesting that some rear end noise is normal? Would a lack of diffrential fluid possibly make the gears whine? (Which would probably mean there is a leak) I mean this thing sounds like a sick goat being crushed by an elephant; it's loud and obnoxious sounding. It doesn't do it all of the time, mostly after the car has been driven for about 5 - 10 minutes.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

So you guys are suggesting that some rear end noise is normal? Would a lack of diffrential fluid possibly make the gears whine? (Which would probably mean there is a leak) I mean this thing sounds like a sick goat being crushed by an elephant; it's loud and obnoxious sounding. It doesn't do it all of the time, mostly after the car has been driven for about 5 - 10 minutes.

First thing you should do is flush and fill the differential and inspect while you have it open.

Here's step by step instructions with pics:
http://www.bullittarchive.com/html/modules/articles/article.php?id=71

 

[fox1x]

One thing I didn't think of, is it possible a failing or bad wheel bearing could be causing this? I just took what Tireman said as true(having a bad rear end), but I'm guessing that a bad wheel bearing may act very similiar.

 

[VividDreams]

like Jackie Chan said, even if it WAS a rear that was on its way out, all it would need is probably gears and a posi unit, axles, im sure would be optional, since theyre not broken. so youre looking at what, 350 for a diff, and 150 for gears?

 

[shakin'00GT]

to check for gears, just jack up the back of the car and rotate the driveshaft counting the # of times the tires go around to 1 driveshaft revolution, if its more than 3 and a 1/4, then you dont have stock gearing in the car and is probably the source of the whining...

To be accurate, you count the number of driveshaft rotations to 1 tire rotation. You are correct that stock should be 3.27:1. However, to be completely certain, you must count the ring gear teeth (the big one) and divide that number by the pinion gear teeth (the small one). This will give you your exact gear ratio. You can do this while you have the rear end open to inspect it and change the fluid.

I would advise against used gears. You will probably end up worse off than you are now, and a new set of gears will not be much more expensive. I just bought a set of FRPP 3.73:1's for $145. And go ahead and get the ratio that you want because 3:27's may actually be harder to come across and cost more than a more popular set (supply and demand at work). You'll want to change gears eventually anyway, so why pay for it twice?

 

[Ronald Jones]

104,000+ miles and the rear end have been howling & whining for a few years on my stock rear 2000 GT. Also you may get some clunking sound as if there is too much play between the ring & the pinion, most confuse this with bad u-joints. But as you have found out this is not the case. A search from the beginning will confirm that a lot of 99+ GTs do this.

When you take the rear cover off the easy way to check for stock gears is to wipe the fluid off the ring gear and look for the die stamp that Ford put on all of its rear ends, there will also be a larger die stamp on the end of the pinion gear.

 

[deftsound]

my rear end whines a little, as far as i can tell its relatively normal. Mine usually wine when im running in a high gear at low speeds, like 5th gear goin 40 to save on gas with rpms around 1500

 

[VividDreams]

Ronald, you ever rebuilt your TractionLok? the clutches inside usually start petering out around 30,000 miles, im sure your clutches have long since checked out....