I just opened up the rear differential on my 1998 F150 Limited Slip 355 gears , Does anyone have the literature for inspecting and rebuilding this rear end?

Thank you

Brian

 

Ditto.......
I posted my thread on the humming in my sons truck rather abruptly. I now see that I'm not alone.
I also have no experience with taking apart or inspecting the rear end. Any info would be great.

 

To be perfectly honest with you guys, if you have no experience with rearends, you're much better off taking it to somebody who does. I rebuilt my rearend myself because I couldn't afford to have somebody else do it. The result was an extremely noisy truck. the rearend never failed, but the humming continued getting worse until I finally had the money to regear the truck and I paid somebody else to do it. No more noise. I followed the directions exactly and had everything within tolerances (as far as I could tell) and it still was not set up correctly. You have to remember that you're dealing with thousandths of an inch. If you are off by even just a couple thousandths, you could end up with anything from a noisy rearend to a grenade under the truck. Not to mention, you need a pretty large list of tools to complete the job, including a bearing press.

 

very interesting. Any other comments? Please.

 

i agree, i have done many ring and pinions on many difrent vehicles, it is a very time consuming process. you will need some expensive tools(magnetic base dial indicator, bearing press or arbor press, micromiter) not to mention alot of other tools(some times a case spreader is needed makes it easer) getting your pinion depth and your backlash set up correctly you will be pulling the carrier and pinion out and putting them back in many times to get the contact pattern perfect and the baclash within specs, if you are a decent machanic take your time and dont get frustrated, one time it took me ten hours to do a ring and pinion other times it lined right up first try and only took 2 hours, here are some tricks to make install go easer

take off all the old bearings very carefully off the old carrier and pinion, grind off the inside race of the old bearings so they will slide easely on the new carier and pinion, use these as set up bearing so you wont damage the new bearings pulling them on and off to change shim thickness

mesure the curent shim thickness used on the old pinion and carrier and use this as a starting piont to find the new thickness you will need, most times it is very close to the new thickness needed

reuse the old crush sleeve and pinion seal untill you have everything within specs only on final install use the new crush sleeve and seal.

good luck

 

Can anyone give a estimate of what to expect a shop to charge to rebuild?

 

Like big truck I have done several ring and pinions. I agree with him 100%. Let someone else do it. Rough estimate would be a couple hundred plus parts

 

You're looking at around $70 for an install kit (bearings, shims, crush sleeve, etc.) and anywhere from $250 to $500 for the labor.

 

I agree: this is not a DIY process.

http://www.differentials.com/install.html
http://www.fordracingparts.com/downl...And-Pinion.pdf

For more info, click my signature link & look in the 8.8" Axle album.

 

Do you really need to pry out the carrier, I have rebuilt a couple of chevy and dodge axles, and the carrier just slid right out, and back in again. Then again, I have never touched the Ford 8.8. I was about to buy a set of 4.10s to replace my 3.55s, but how much of a pain is it to do these 8.8 axles?

 

the last time my 8.8 was fully apart, the carrier took a little bit of effort to remove... this time i cant even get the f'n pinion shaft out... i have no clue how that happens.

 

If the carrier just slides right out, then you don't have NEARLY enough preload on the carrier bearings. Yes, it needs to be pried out.