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  • 1996 - 2004 SN95 Mustang -General/Talk-

The Great Gear Debate lol ????? 01 Bullitt

  • Thread starter Thread starter GoneBrokeRacing
  • Start date Start date Sep 9, 2018
G

GoneBrokeRacing

New Member
Nov 16, 2000
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1
3
Sep 9, 2018
#1
  • Sep 9, 2018
  • #1
First off I've ran all gears in my Fox-body's over the years threw different engine combos from 2.73,3.08,3.55,3.73,4.10 & 4.30. So i know what work in them lol.
My 01 Bullitt originally came with 3.27 gears
I'm happy with my stock gears but I had rear end bearing noise for a long time, only under load. I've been told its my front outer pinion bearing, I considered just changing out that bearing without opening the rear end still might rolleyes.gif just to bandage it\ pray it works
I'm still trying to decide to just rebuild the whole rear. but If i go that route I don't want to leave the stock gears in there just in case it's them making the noise.

When I first got the car it was 4.10 gears hands down lol, But over the year I talked myself down to 3.73's . But now I'm thinking why not 3.55 gears
I just wish my car had a Z-spec T-5 like me fox's did fifth gear was .63 (Then Hands down 4.10 gears lol )

It's my daily driver, Jast a Mac Pro chamber and Dumped Borla Pro XS mufflers dumped
(don't even have a tuner lol) (YET)
My daily commute is like 10-15 miles a day, but I love taking trips 4-8 hrs every few months Not to worried about gas mileage or power. Just the driveability and how many shifts lol
I sometime skip 3rd gear 1st-2nd-4th if i'm just not in the mood to shift lol
anyone else do that ????? tango_face_devil.png

So anyone put 3.55 in there Bullitt ???
"Long story short sorry"
 

wmburns

SN Certified Technician
Aug 14, 2009
5,892
514
204
Houston Texas
Sep 9, 2018
#2
  • Sep 9, 2018
  • #2
I can give you my thought about rear end maintenance. In general the cost of the rebuild kit is so low compared to the labor involved that it makes sense in almost every case that IF it's necessary to take the pinion off for a bearing failure then it's just makes sense to replace all of the other bearings that are part of a rebuild kit.

One exception. In my case after rebuilding the rear end It developed a leak from the pinon seal. Huge mess as the rear end was always covered with oil. I removed the pinion which gave a chance to inspect the bearings. In my case they looked brand new. Further the rear end was not making any noise.

I did find a grove wore into the pinion flange sealing surface. So a repair sleeve, new crush sleeve, and seal was put back together. So far no leaks or noise.

One lesson learned. Pay more attention to sealing surface wear. With the benefit of hind sight I could have saved myself some effort by installing a repair sleeve the first time. While the ware groove did not catch a fingernail it was present at the time of the rebuild.

Replacing just the pinion seal was easily 75% of the work of doing a full rebuild. IMO clearly a bad corner for me to cut.
 
Last edited: Sep 9, 2018
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