How difficult is 4.10 gear install?

808muscle · Dec 19, 2009

I am not impressed with the shops I have spoken to about my gear install. I have a very good friend whom is a mechanic and says we can do it ourselves. How difficult is the job? Is there a book, or how to manual?

Should I not attempt this? I havent called the dealer yet.....I really hate dealing with the dealers.

patrick

TotoGT06 · Dec 19, 2009

Here you go son, AmericanMuscle to the rescue with someone's how to install with pictures. If the link doesnt work, go to AmericanMuscle and under the Installation guides go to Drivetrain and it is listed in there

http://www.americanmuscle.com/differential-gear-install.html

I personally am taking mine to a mechanic from Ford who is going to do it on the side because most other shops are double in price for the install. And if you have someone do it, that has done it before, then you have less of a chance of screwing up your rear end. I usually do all the work and installs to my car myself but this one Im letting the professional do

05xgt · Dec 19, 2009

They are not hard to do..........but you better KNOW what you are doing. Tolerances, and clearances are presice. If you are not dead on you WILL discover all sorts of bad things, not to mention the new sounds your car will make. Oh and lets not forget that guy named Murphy, he'll probably cause your pinion bearing to seize on some isolated piece of road in the middle of nowhere, when you least expect it. Best advice is to have someone who does this with experience do the install for you.

Greg Hazlett · Dec 19, 2009

There are many things I do myself to save money/learn/do it right but gears are one of those installs that I have no problem paying someone to do..like the other posts stated if you get this one wrong it can be a very expensive repair.

Dread53 · Dec 19, 2009

I've done what amounts to several hundred, and I won't even attempt it without air tools and a press. Their are a number of specific tools required (pullers, punches, impacts, torque wrenches) and a shim kit. Everything is set with specific size shims, which means you can be removing some bearings several times to change them. Picking shim sizes is not particularly intuitive, so alot of people you will pay to do this will still screw it up.

Boozshey · Dec 19, 2009

I got lucky, cheap install and no noises after. That was back when Texas Hot Rods was a good shop though...

I thought about doing it myself and am very glad I didn't after hearing the tons of horror stories about the nice WHINE you will get...

RED09GT · Dec 19, 2009

If you are keen on learning but lack experience, I would recommend pulling the rear right out of the car, that way you will be able to see things clearly and have more room to work. It makes it a lot easier to set up you dial indicator and such.
Another thing I do is to enlarge the opening on the old pinion bearing or even buy a spare and do this to make it easier when setting the pinion shims so you don't have to constantly press the bearing on and off to set the pinion depth.

PUNISHERSTANG · Dec 19, 2009

+1 on pulling the rear end out! here is my :2cents:

. Do it yourself, if all the tolerances are correct, the gear pattern is correct, and you set the pinion bearing preload correctly then you SHOULD NOT have any whine. The shops dont have some magical power to make things work right and trust me im an ASE master tech and a ford mechanic and the people in the shops doing these kind of jobs arent the master techs, they are the grunts usually straight out of school or the oil change line because its messy time consuming work and there are alot of better jobs to make flat rate on. Do it yourself and take pride in your work! The american muscle write up is pretty good, just pay attetion to the details.

808muscle · Dec 20, 2009

Thanks for the input guys. I got a line on two potential installers. I dont mind paying somebody but only if the guy knows his stuff. I appreciate the help.

patrick

06z28eater · Dec 20, 2009

i paid 300 for the install on my 03, but they told me 175 and then jacked it up once they discovered how hard it was, should have argued but ah well i was anxious lol but i found a shop here that will do it for 200, including fluid.

shatter · Dec 20, 2009

I watched the guys put in my 4.10 gears two weeks ago and I wouldn't attempt it myself. You can take parts off and tighten bolts but I have no idea about bearing pre-load, shims etc for rear gears and if you don't know what you are doing, you are going to have problems. I'd pay an expert to do the work.

kirk2425 · Mar 8, 2010

What made you decide to go with a 4.10? I still have not made up my mind on ratio...

808muscle · Mar 9, 2010

kirk2425 said:
What made you decide to go with a 4.10? I still have not made up my mind on ratio...

My car is a dd. So I wanted a gear that would be fun on the street but also give me a better 60@ the track. My sixty didn't really get much better but it was consistant. 2.12 onstreet tires. I really love how the car drives now. Very peppy, nice n torquey. If your thinking 3.73 don't bother, it won't be much different than 3.31.
Patrick

Natural1 · Mar 9, 2010

808muscle said:
How difficult is the job?

Well, if you do the math as I have below, you will see:

4.10 - 3.73 = 0.370

So, I'd venture to say that the install is roughly .400 times more difficult than a 3.73 gear installation.

:crazy:

If you look around, there is quite a bit of good information. This one below is really informative:
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=144780

:thumb2:

TexasBlownV8 · Mar 9, 2010

.4 tmes more difficult is about right.

Seriously, there's a couple very critical steps to getting it done right: pinion depth, pinion preload, and ring gear backlash. Knowing how to do all that properly, including having the tools needed, is mandatory.

waketek516 · Mar 10, 2010

Natural1 said:
Well, if you do the math as I have below, you will see:

4.10 - 3.73 = 0.370

So, I'd venture to say that the install is roughly .400 times more difficult than a 3.73 gear installation.

If you look around, there is quite a bit of good information. This one below is really informative:
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=144780

SilentScope · Mar 10, 2010

i did one myself once, put 4.10's in an old 6 banger.
Made it whine like a blower.

I do almost everything i can on the car myself, even if i have to learn and trial+error things.

But gears... nope. leave it to the pros. spend the $ and get it done right.

terry5357 · Mar 11, 2010

cliffymorris said:
i did one myself once, put 4.10's in an old 6 banger.
Made it whine like a blower.

I do almost everything i can on the car myself, even if i have to learn and trial+error things.

But gears... nope. leave it to the pros. spend the $ and get it done right.

Cliffy you are right on brother......the issues of bad shit to happen could range from just bad whine to wiping out the pinion and ring gears or many other things

06Torch · Mar 24, 2010

I say let the pros handle this. Some of the guys on here are pretty confident in their abilities and that's great but this isn't you. Besides, if the shop fu¢ks up you can always go back and raise hell and hold them to any problems that may arise. If you fu¢k up, you get to pay for all the damage you may cause and still need to pay someone else to do it. Not really worth the money you may or may not save, IMO.

Gerardo

Kaldar142 · Mar 24, 2010

PUNISHERSTANG said:
the people in the shops doing these kind of jobs arent the master techs, they are the grunts usually straight out of school or the oil change line because its messy time consuming work and there are alot of better jobs to make flat rate on.

This couldn't be anymore true... hahaha

How difficult is 4.10 gear install?

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