Removing rear axle housing from the car -- anything particularly a PITA?

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

Hey guys, removing the axle housing from the car doesn't look like it will be that big of a deal, but with any fairly major component removal, there usually ends up being something major I overlook that I either break, or is more difficult to remove than expected.

It looks like I just have to remove calipers, control arms, driveshaft, air bags, brake hose(s), and then the bolted attachment to the watts link in the center of the housing. Is it really that easy or am I missing something?

Thanks

Steve

[RoyLPita]

The nut on the top for the Watts link. It is torqued on very heavily.

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

I have a 3 foot pry bar plus cheater pipe, and a dual piston 500 ft lb impact gun. It'll come off!!!

I assume with anything that has deformable rubber bushings, including the watts link and control arm bushings, that they are only to be retorqued upon reinstall, with the car at ride height w/ the weight of the car on the wheels, so they don't bind, right?

Thanks

Steve

[ImpalaSlayer]

question, why are you taking it out? and you also forgot that you have to take the sway bar out

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

yeah I've had the rear apart a bunch of times so the sway bar bolts are fresh.

I have had 3 gear sets in this car and they have all made noise to some degree. I have a dealer rotunda tool and have r&r'd several of the gearsets several times. I have wasted many many weekends under the car. Since I now have 4 cars as of a few weekends ago, I can afford to have the marauder down to do this right. I am going to set up another new set of gears on the bench so I am not rushing to get it done under the car. Then just swap the housings out. I think I may use 4.10s this time around just for ha has.

If I can't find a cheap spare bare housing, I still am going to take the rear out of the car so I can set the gears up on the bench. It's just getting to be too much of a pain in the ass to slide under the back of the car 900 million times every time I have the rear apart.

[ImpalaSlayer]

i do mostly everything my self but this is one thing i will not. you prolly should have taken it to the shop. at least they would most likly fix it if it was making noise

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

Um no. The first thing I did was take this to a dealer. They ruined a set of gears they set it up so poorly. Never again. I am not looking for advice on gears at this point. I have the same $1500 tool kit that the dealer has, so they are not going to do anything differently than me. I have a friend who is a dealer tech for Ford and his stories about how he sets up gears just flat out scare me. He runs the lash way under the mininum spec, uses valve grinding compound on the gears to help "lap them in" even though they come pre-lapped, etc. I am not going to let someone else F around with the rear and then not know what they did.

The gears in the car right now are probably no louder than most aftermarket installs, but I am very picky and want them quieter. I don't care if I have to take it apart 10 more times to get it right. I have the space, the tools, and the time. Just trying to make it smoother going this time by having a backup housing.

[BigCars4Ever]

I think the e-brake cable is the biggest PIA IMO

[Zack]

Its possible the gears are the culprit. There are many bad sets floating around. I have a set in my Blue that are louder than hell, but trust me the specs are correct!

[Breadfan]

Its possible the gears are the culprit. There are many bad sets floating around. I have a set in my Blue that are louder than hell, but trust me the specs are correct!

This could be the case. For your 4.10's try a set of Yukon gears, I've heard people having better luck with them in terms of quiet reliable setups and my local installer who does a good job with gears has switched from FRPP to them. FYI they did my FRPP 4.10's gears about 2 years ago and I can't hear a thing from the rear end.

But since then I believe FRPP has switched suppliers and quality of the cut has gone down.

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

Um breadfan you are in Alexandria (I am in Springfield for another week). Can I ride in your car sometime? I'm curious to see if I hear anything. My wife says she can't hear the rear whine but it's pretty loud to me (but I have pretty good hearing too).

I have two used older sets of 3.73s in the garage also, that I may try. I may not be the absolute best mechanic in the world but I am persistent and extremely stubborn, and that counts for something.

And yeah Zack, people downplay the effect the quality of the gearset has on the quietness because they don't know any better, but the type of tooth machining and quality of the set has a huge impact. My gears show a very good contact pattern and like I said are still loud. They are newer FRPP gears and I just don't think they are made as well as some of the others.

[Breadfan]

We can probably work something out, drop me a PM, I live just behind Springfield

[Marauderjack]

What drive shaft are you running??

Dyno-Max says theirs amplifies the drive train sounds a good bit......I have one and mine is much louder in regard to gear whine than the OEM was but only between 60 & 65 MPH....very quiet everywhere else??:confused:

Hate to see ya chasin' "Ghosties"!!:cool:

Marauderjack:burnout:

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

60-65 is worst. It is a stock shaft. I also spent $250 to have a 3.5 diameter 0.065 wall STEEL shaft made for this car, because I thought even the stock aluminum shaft might be resonating.

That did not make any difference. I now have probably the strongest driveshaft ever made for a panther car in my garage, with about 100 miles on it.

Not the shaft unfortunately. But what I am chasing does appear to be a harmonic common to this platform.

[Breadfan]

BTW I'm not sure how loud you're looking for, but my new exhaust may drone out stuff now that I have 14" magnaflows...

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

oh never mind then. Yeah most guys with "quiet" gears have such loud exhausts that you couldn't hear gear noise anyway. My "noisy" gears would not be heard over a loud exhaust at all..... but I am not interested in having a droning loud exhaust on this car so it annoys me. My 77 Camaro w/ the roller cammed and fuel injected 327 is blasting loud when I want to go terrorize people...otherwise I just want to listen to the stereo

Thanks though

Steve

[FordNut]

I know how to get rid of the gear noise...

Buy the rearend from Dennis, it came out of my car and has 4.10s along with a brand new posi unit. It has new bearings and the TSB axle fix. It was dead quiet when I was running it. The one I put back in my car makes a little noise but after 2 go-arounds with trying to get it silent I've accepted it.

Some of my Ford tech buddies have told me the best way to get rid of the noise is to get "Ford" gears, not FRPP gears. They are held to a higher QC standard.

[Breadfan]

Yeah, there is some drone, I still have manifolds and 4 cats so it's not that loud, but I'm sure you're talking about a relatively quiet whine.

My exhaust before this was very quiet in the car, especially while cruising, never heard anything

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

Fordnut, even the OE gears in this car were noisy. This is why I want to get another housing and start over.

Dennis's rear is a good idea, but I can't afford the several hundred $$ shipping that already (I'm sure) pricey rear will cost. I don't mind the tinkering, I have 2 major project cars and then the MM, and then a driver car, so if one is apart, ah.

[gmtech]

wow, is all i can say about this thread....and let it be known that all gears will have a certain amount of noise:cool:....maybe you should get a FWD grand am, they dont have gear noise problems:D

[Breadfan]

wow, is all i can say about this thread....and let it be known that all gears will have a certain amount of noise:cool:....maybe you should get a FWD grand am, they dont have gear noise problems:D

If they do it's drowned out by the sound of warped rotors and noise caliper pins :)

[Joe Walsh]

If they do it's drowned out by the sound of warped rotors and noise caliper pins :)

You sure it couldn't be the QUAD4 engine making all the racket?!?!?

:D

[gmtech]

If they do it's drowned out by the sound of warped rotors and noise caliper pins :)
AMEN:bows:...go thru this everyday at work, simply the worst GM car you can buy

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

wow, is all i can say about this thread....and let it be known that all gears will have a certain amount of noise:cool:....maybe you should get a FWD grand am, they dont have gear noise problems:DI am always surprised by the lack of real tech concern. I'm sorry I posted this. Thanks for the serious answers that I did get. If I posted about colored locking valve caps I'd get 40 relevant responses. I am a mechanical engineer, I am not an idiot. I understand that a gear driven unit will make some noise. Trust me, I know the difference between normal noise and excessive noise. The gear noise is louder than any other car I have ever owned, including lots of backyard setup cheapo 2-pass millled Richmonds, which are naturally more prone to be noisy due to their inferior finish and tooth profiling. The gears I am running in the MM are Ford face hobbed and factory lapped gears. They are pretty much as good as you can get and should have the least noise.

[Marauderjack]

I was told that Ford use to have different part numbers for Town Car gears since they were hand picked (somehow) to be very quiet??:cool:

Last year I checked with my parts guy and unfortunately the TC, CV, GM and Marauder all have the same part numbers now......so I guess the TC is noisy now too??!!:confused:

Wish I could be of more help to ya!!:shake:

I just drive above or below the critical speed....MOSTLY ABOVE!!!:beer:

Good Luck and keep us posted on your progress!!

Marauderjack:burnout:

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

The 08+ Mustang Bullitt gets sorted best-quality 3.73s. The GT gets sorted 3.55s. They are 3x the price of regular Ford gears but I may spring for them if I have to. but I am going to change out the whole housing first because I think the quality of the gear sets I am using is only part of the problem.

Yeah I drive above/below the noise but it is really annoying to not be able to drive 60-70 mph. It basically forces me to drive 70+ even in 55's.

Loud mufflers would totally drown out the gears but I am keeping the stock exhaust on this car