Hey Guys I have been thinking about changing rear end gears. My 74 comet now has a 2.73 ( I believe) and was wanting to go to a 3.11 or higher. Just was talking to a friend and he has a 9'" rear end out of a ford truck apx. 1979 that he believes is a 3.5 ratio. I could get this for a good price. Two questions, 1. What does one of these things cost. 2. If it will fit, which I will have to measure and see, what benefit is there to having a 9" verses a 8" rearend. Also any sujestions on the best way to change I have never done one before. I just talked to my dad and he believes that you can change just the third member only on this switch is this true?
The only benefit, other than choice of posi units, is the ability to handle insane amounts of power on a regular basis. The flip side is the increased weight and power needed to turn it. That truck rear may be too wide without shortening tho.
Dean, that rearend out of the 79 Ford will require welding, cutting, finding pinion angle and most likely new axles as the housing will probably need cut down. My advice is to find a complete maverick rearend that has the gears you want, and then swap it out. Changing the pumpkin in your existing rearend can be done, but best left to someone with knowledge on setting one up. Dan
No problem Dean,, there are alot of people on this board from OH. Maybe one of them can lead you to a complete housing with the gears you are wanting out of a salvaged Mav or comet. Dan
Rebuild your own. Costs around $250, and if you can use mikes and vernier calipers, and have a good torque wrench, I believe you could do it yourself. No one else will agree with me here. I was told how hard it would be, but except for a couple of nuances (like having to cut the old bearings off with a grinder) it was an easy job. Took one afternoon to dissassemble and clean. Another afternoon to reassemble, and on the track that night after breakin, to test it out. I do have some machine shop experience, but did this in my garage with regular tools and mikes.
I've set many 8" & 9" rears up with out any special tools. They are probably the easiest rear to do. Summit sells a video by Richmond gear which is an excellent $20 investment. In the video they use a special tool to set the pinion depth but since you have to move it with shims to get the proper wear pattern anyway, you dont really need that tool. The only other tool is a dial gauge to set back lash. THese are real cheap to get and worth having but again, I've set them without them. Proper back lash for new gears is around .008". if you set it for the absolute smallest you can detect, it will be within specs.
