Gear swap = pain in the a$$

BALZY_GT

Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2006
Messages
123
Reaction score
0
I was working on my 3.08 to 3.73 gear swap yesterday at my shop. I already had the differential off the car (which is much nicer than working on gears while still under the car) :thumb: Just a little word of advise to anyone thinking about doing gears themselves, plan a whole weekend to do it. Unless you have done gear swaps before, you will most likely run into obstacles. It took me an hour to get all the suspension and brake components off the housing, not to mention the fact that i crushed both abs sensors while trying to get them out. If your car is more than 5 years old, i would automatically plan on replacing those damn things. They were so corroted in place that there was no way to turn them or tap them out, without cracking the plastic pieces. I screwed around with dissassembly and pinion depth for about 2 hours. I went through 2 crush collars by trying to set the correct bearing preload on the pinon. Word of advise (buy some extra crush collars, you'll need them) After that i ran into a critical road block, i couldn't get the bearings off the differential carrier. I tried bearing separators, and jaw pullers, but neither worked. Now I'm going to take the carrier to a tranny or machine shop to have them pull the damn things off. Needless to say that took another couple hours in trying to get the bearings off. After that i decided to call it a day. Once i get the new bearings on that thing, it will all be down hill from there. All i would have left is to pop the ring gear on the differential and put it back in the housing. Hopefully the backlash shouldn't be an issue, because the shims that were in there were thick single pieces for each side. That should be easier than trying to get all those thin shims into place. After all that bitching, here is the real reason for the post. (i just wanted to give you guys a heads up on installing your own gears)

Once i got the axle down to my shop, i ran into a little surprise when i opened the axle cover. There was a differential stuffed in there, that i have never seen before. It had a date of 9-02-1999 on it. Which makes me wonder why the owner before me didn't have them swap in the 3.73 gears while they replaced the differential?? I was expecting to see the standard issued trac loc differential, but instead i found this.

http://www.fordracingparts.com/parts/part_details.asp?PartKeyField=2520

Upon some research i found it to be this ford racing Torsen T-2 differential. Ford says it's one of the finest differentials on the market today. I think they are used in the late model cobras. I have never heard of this before, and i was wondering if any of you guys have heard any good or bad news about this differential?
 

blackfang

Active Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2006
Messages
462
Reaction score
2
Wait until you do Longtubes on a Modular Mustang or an LS1 I am looking to add LT's to my catfish and pray it isnt a pita like the Cobra was.
 

Lightning Struck

Post Whore
Joined
Jan 12, 2006
Messages
23,204
Reaction score
8
blackfang said:
Wait until you do Longtubes on a Modular Mustang or an LS1 I am looking to add LT's to my catfish and pray it isnt a pita like the Cobra was.

oh yea long tubes on a mod :banana: :banana: :banana: boy thats FUN :mad:
 

ryclef331

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2006
Messages
2,913
Reaction score
11
as far as the abs sensors....the easiest thing to do is leave them attached to the backing plates on the axle. Go inside your car, pop the ass cushion for the back seat out...the abs harness connectors are under there. Unhook them and push the gromet and wire out the floor pan. Voila...no need to worry about breaking them. And since you need to replace them, I thought you'd might like to know how you do it. :thumb:
 
OP
OP
B

BALZY_GT

Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2006
Messages
123
Reaction score
0
What about this rear differential?? Does anybody know about this torsion t-2 diff?? :help2:
 

Forum statistics

Threads
77,440
Messages
1,502,171
Members
14,920
Latest member
marktuck99

Members online

Top