[maxgig]

If you're thinking about doing your rear end and gears and can't decide let me be the first to tell you that it's well worth your while. I had my locking rear end and 3.55 gears installed and now the cat has crazy takeoff :lolani::lolani:. I was chirping the tires going from first to second gear. I got all my parts from ring & pinion gears and I couldn't be happier. I'm getting my carburetor tuned now because having the car sit outside in the cold revealed some issues with it that were hidden because it was always garaged. I got my X-mas present early this year.

 

[cougarshaman]

What did you get? What gears, diff, ect.?

Details, man. Details!

 

[maxgig]

I decided to go with 3.55 gears instead of 3.73's and I got Strange high performance gears. I also went with the Detroit truetrac locking rear end. A few of my friends recommended the truetrac because it was quiet on turns and didn't have a long break in period.

 

[Harvey]

How are your RPM's at highway speed with the 3.55

 

[Bad69cat]

Getting away from the one legger makes a world of difference. 3.55 will keep you away from the gas station .... if it's not very far away! ;>) LOL but it's probably the best overall performance/streetable way to go. There's always tradeoffs depending on what you want to end up with, if you would have gone 3.73's I think you would get xmas cards from every gas station in town! (but you could really leave a few cars eating dust too) I think you made the right choice.

 

[maxgig]

How are your RPM's at highway speed with the 3.55

Harvey, I didn't get a chance to get on the highway yet as I left the car with the mechanic so he could tune the carb. I should have it back by Wednesday of next week and I'll let you know then since I'll really get a chance to test it on the 15 mile ride home.

 

[clanceman427]

Awesome! Now u can experience getting sideways in a whole new way!

 

[posidude]

I also have the Detroit Truetrack, and am going with 3:89 gears in combination with an AOD. Glad to hear your rig is working great!!

 

[maxgig]

I also have the Detroit Truetrack, and am going with 3:89 gears in combination with an AOD. Glad to hear your rig is working great!!

Posidude, I went with the 3.55 gears because I'm still running a 3 speed, the AOD is a little bit further down the road. I set a limit of $2k dollars for parts and labor and it went pretty quick especially when the carb problem came up. Thanks to everyone here that provided info and advice.

I actually had one shop that's been in business for over 17 yrs tell me that they wanted to crack open my rear end and count the splines to ensure that I had 28 and not 31. That would have been fine but they wouldn't have started working on the car for at least 2 weeks after that and I would have had to drive the car back and forth to his shop in that time; no thanks.

So again I say, much thanks to everyone for your help and big props to whomever provided the info about the oval end caps on the rear hubs indicating that I had a 28 spline axle.

 

[cougar2]

Where did you get the Detroit truetrac locking rear end?

 

[maxgig]

Where did you get the Detroit truetrac locking rear end?

I ordered all my parts from ringpinion.com. I'm not that parts knowledgeable but if you tell them what you want your car to do they can take care of you. I also had my mechanic there when I placed the order.

 

[67BlueXR7]

I'm thinking about doing something similar, is this an easier way for me to do it? I've never swapped gears before and don't have the equipment to do it. This would also give me a posi. The car is a 289 2V (soon to be a 4V), with a c-4. Any thoughts on this? Also thinking 3:55's.

I'm not looking to go all out on this car. Just make it a littile more fun to drive. I would like to do a manual trans swap if I can find a complete setup locally. Thanks, Bruce

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/FORD...r_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item23053443c2

 

[cougarshaman]

Yeah Bruce, that'll work.

For what it's worth, any SAE certified tech should be able to do the traction lok conversion easily enough. If you put an ad in the Iwanna you might be able to find one someone has laying around and buy it on the cheap.
You might contact the foothills mustang club and rub elbows with some of those guys too. They have lots of parts and such, or can direct you to a good mechanic in the GSP area.

 

[CATNAPPIN]

Did you get it from ringandpinion.com or ringandpinion.net? .com comes up as Randy's RING AND PINION

 

[maxgig]

Did you get it from ringandpinion.com or ringandpinion.net? .com comes up as Randy's RING AND PINION

Its the same, the full name is Randy's Ring & Pinion. The website is ringpinion.com, I spoke to Jay Cella, 1-800-347-1188 his extension is 5558.

 

[maxgig]

I'm thinking about doing something similar, is this an easier way for me to do it? I've never swapped gears before and don't have the equipment to do it. This would also give me a posi. The car is a 289 2V (soon to be a 4V), with a c-4. Any thoughts on this? Also thinking 3:55's.

I'm not looking to go all out on this car. Just make it a littile more fun to drive. I would like to do a manual trans swap if I can find a complete setup locally. Thanks, Bruce

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/FORD...r_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item23053443c2

That should work fine, but don't forget to buy a new speedometer gear if you change the rear gear ratio. I bought mine from WCCC for about $20 shipped.

 

[Harvey]

Have you had a chance to see what your rpm's do with the new rear end at highway speed? My car currently has a 2.75 rear in it. Great for highway or top end but not sure what it will do as far as takeoff? I don't want the rpm's bouncing off the roof though at highway.

 

[67BlueXR7]

Thanks for the replies, forgot about the speedo gear. I'm not worried about my ability in swapping the center section. I just didn't want to try to just change the ring + pinion.

 

[67BlueXR7]

I haven't had the car on the highway yet, I don't remember what the door code is (I guess I can go to the garage and check), but it feels like a very tall gear. The car is very original, 79k miles and has done a lot of sitting around in storage from what I can tell. The seller was not very helpful in it's history, thanks, Bruce

 

[maxgig]

Have you had a chance to see what your rpm's do with the new rear end at highway speed? My car currently has a 2.75 rear in it. Great for highway or top end but not sure what it will do as far as takeoff? I don't want the rpm's bouncing off the roof though at highway.

No Harvey not yet, we had an unusual cold spell here the last few days and now we just got about 7 inches of snow again last night. I probably won't be able to take the cat outside again at least 2 weeks or so. But I'll let you know for sure cause I'm curious myself about the highway rpms and my gas mileage. With my old gear setup I was averaging about 11 to 13 mpg's on the highway.