Laurietaz
Junior Member
Sorry, little bit of a long one.
I have an 05 Mustang GT (Roush Stage 1) I have had for about a year, had 33k miles when I bought and 40k now. Purchased from private seller, had 2 previous owners before. When I purchased it, the rear driver side had course lug studs, which I changed back to the factory threads since the other 3 corners had factory. I could see someone had been in the rear end since it had orangish red rtv to seal the cover up, trac lok clutches seemed a little loose when testing it on jack stands by hand and also had what sounded to be some rear end noise, had a hum like sound when you were on the gas but went away when coasting, which from reading and having a couple buddies listen seemed like maybe pinion bearing or maybe just gear noise. So I decided since someone had already been in the rear end, freshen everything up and check it out. I got the ford performance rebuild kit for the trac lok and ford rebuild kit for the rest of the rear end. Also purchased ford wheel bearings and seals.
First I decided to put some power stop red powder coated calipers with new pads and rotors last weekend, this is when it started to go semi down hill.....the rear driver side caliper bracket had been ground on quite a bit, which I relized after I put the new bracket on that the backside of the rotor rubs on the bracket (no I didn't notice the bracket modified when I changed the studs unfortunately). Nothing the bracket mounts to is bent, I compared measurements to my folks 05 they have had since new. It was like the axle doesn't sit out enough if that makes sense.
So it was time to dig into the rear end. Passenger axle pushed in easy to remove the c clip, driver axle, not so much. I removed the abs sensor to make a little more room but it was still difficult to get the c clip out. With a pick tool and some fancy pliers along with some muscle, finally got it out but it was kind of at an angle And the c clip looked like it had been probably beat in with a screw driver or chisel previously. The seal on the driver side axle tube did not have the metal lip like factory does, it just went in the tube but I continued to roll with it.
The rest of the rear end seemed semi unremarkable, some normal wear, nothing crazy other than whomever put the rtv on for the cover went WAY overboard, there were little rtv nuggets all over. Got everything cleaned up in the housing and back together, then it came time to put the axles in. Passenger side, went in no problem, driver side is being a problem child. I assume the driver side axle is aftermarket but no clue who the manufacturer is. It has a ford part number etched on the hub center but the hub center is different than the passenger side. Passenger side has that what I call indent in the middle, driver side is fully filled in flush.
Both axles have the abs tone rings driver side is flush to the mounting surface but it appears when compared to the pass side like the inside lip of the tone ring sticks up more from the axle, but not 100% sure if that is how it should be or not. I measured the axle from the hub face to the end of the shaft and it is 31 13/16th which seems to me correct, but will not go in far enough to put the c clip on. I have beat it with a hammer.....even though a ratchet strap around the hub surface with a block of wood to passenger side of pumpkin to see if that would help along with a hammer but notta.
Currently waiting on a used factory axle from my local salvage yard that is to show up Thursday and see if that solves the issue, if not, I'm kind of at a loss.
Anyone experienced this before or have any suggestions?
I have an 05 Mustang GT (Roush Stage 1) I have had for about a year, had 33k miles when I bought and 40k now. Purchased from private seller, had 2 previous owners before. When I purchased it, the rear driver side had course lug studs, which I changed back to the factory threads since the other 3 corners had factory. I could see someone had been in the rear end since it had orangish red rtv to seal the cover up, trac lok clutches seemed a little loose when testing it on jack stands by hand and also had what sounded to be some rear end noise, had a hum like sound when you were on the gas but went away when coasting, which from reading and having a couple buddies listen seemed like maybe pinion bearing or maybe just gear noise. So I decided since someone had already been in the rear end, freshen everything up and check it out. I got the ford performance rebuild kit for the trac lok and ford rebuild kit for the rest of the rear end. Also purchased ford wheel bearings and seals.
First I decided to put some power stop red powder coated calipers with new pads and rotors last weekend, this is when it started to go semi down hill.....the rear driver side caliper bracket had been ground on quite a bit, which I relized after I put the new bracket on that the backside of the rotor rubs on the bracket (no I didn't notice the bracket modified when I changed the studs unfortunately). Nothing the bracket mounts to is bent, I compared measurements to my folks 05 they have had since new. It was like the axle doesn't sit out enough if that makes sense.
So it was time to dig into the rear end. Passenger axle pushed in easy to remove the c clip, driver axle, not so much. I removed the abs sensor to make a little more room but it was still difficult to get the c clip out. With a pick tool and some fancy pliers along with some muscle, finally got it out but it was kind of at an angle And the c clip looked like it had been probably beat in with a screw driver or chisel previously. The seal on the driver side axle tube did not have the metal lip like factory does, it just went in the tube but I continued to roll with it.
The rest of the rear end seemed semi unremarkable, some normal wear, nothing crazy other than whomever put the rtv on for the cover went WAY overboard, there were little rtv nuggets all over. Got everything cleaned up in the housing and back together, then it came time to put the axles in. Passenger side, went in no problem, driver side is being a problem child. I assume the driver side axle is aftermarket but no clue who the manufacturer is. It has a ford part number etched on the hub center but the hub center is different than the passenger side. Passenger side has that what I call indent in the middle, driver side is fully filled in flush.
Both axles have the abs tone rings driver side is flush to the mounting surface but it appears when compared to the pass side like the inside lip of the tone ring sticks up more from the axle, but not 100% sure if that is how it should be or not. I measured the axle from the hub face to the end of the shaft and it is 31 13/16th which seems to me correct, but will not go in far enough to put the c clip on. I have beat it with a hammer.....even though a ratchet strap around the hub surface with a block of wood to passenger side of pumpkin to see if that would help along with a hammer but notta.
Currently waiting on a used factory axle from my local salvage yard that is to show up Thursday and see if that solves the issue, if not, I'm kind of at a loss.
Anyone experienced this before or have any suggestions?
