Well the rear end has been making a roaring noise for a while and there is a lot of slack in the ring & pinion so I'm gonna rebuild the whole thing. I ordered a Auburn posi unit and am upgrading from 3:55 to 4:10. I am also going to order this week a master install kit and replace all bearings, seals, shims, crush sleeves, carrier bearings, etc. I have built the old style 9" and am not familiar with the 8.8. I am pretty confident about tearing it down and putting it back but want some advise on setting the backlash and bearing preload. Any input?

 

The gears usually come with instructions and a list of the tools you will need. If you haven't bought the gears yet i recommend Ford racing gears. Ford uses a master housing dimension on the 8.8's. So basically all you have to do is measure the pinion gear and adjust one shim, set the preload, and run your pattern. Thats how they set them up at the factory. If you use a different aftermarket gear thats where you get into setting backlash and pinion depth and stuff like that.

-Jon

 

Thanks, I have not ordered the gears but will be in the next couple weeks, I will definitely go with the ford racing gears. I had no idea there was that much of a difference with aftermarket. Thanks again, that'll save me

 

Did you rebuild the diff yet?? I just threw some 4.10 gears in my mustang the other night, the Ford racing gears i bought didn't come with instructions but i found all the torque specs online at: http://www.corral.net/tech/drivetrain/gears.html

Hope this helps. This is the first 8.8 i've done in about 2 years and it took about an hour and a half (just gears, i reused the old bearings and shims so i didn't have to set backlash and pinion depth). The Ford racing gears are completely silent, they don't whine like other aftermarket gears.

-Jon