Possible Craigslist Buy ?

[delling3]

Was trolling thru the local CL ads last night, and ran across a guy that has a set of Ford Performance 3.73 gears for sale. Seller states that he had them installed on his '95 GT, for less than 5000 miles. His price seems reasonable. Thoughts on swapping in a used set of ring and pinion gears?

Thanks in advance!

 

[evilcw311]

You need to ask for some up close pics. Look for uneven wear.


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[Silver95bird]

I've been burned on used gears before. Vibed like crazy. I'd only buy new Ford gears from now on. If there's even the slightest doubt, pass on it and save for new ones.

 

[delling3]

Seller said he swapped the stock 3.27's for the 3.73's, and decided that he really wanted 4.10's, so he swapped again. Less than 5K on the 3.73s. Looking at the gears, they appear to be as represented - the nitride coating is still in great shape, no evidence of wear.

 

[96blak54]

Most ford gears swap out with little to no shimming or swapping out spacers. Not to say the gear install was done correctly, idk, but usually staying ford the swap can almost be done while blind folded. Like the others have stated, get wear pattern pics.

Also, if you score the gears cheap enough, go ahead and install, run them till you figure out you want 4.10

 

[Silver95bird]

I agree on Ford gears being a better setup. Most of the time you reuse the pinion shim, and just set the backlash. Factory backlash is .008-.015, unless it's the mark8/cobra irs aluminum pumpkin, in which case you aim for as close to .010 as possible. I like mine on the tighter side, but that may just be me.
Since you can't measure the preload without expensive tools, I just make sure the total shim thickness is the same as before. Usually around .540", if I recall correctly. It's been a few years since I had to do one.