Well had two days off, and decided it was time for them to go in. I installed them myself, in my driveway, and on jack stands. Not really going to give a write up on them, but I did take some pics along the way. First off I have never installed gears before, let alone worked on a 8.8 before. So everyone that says you will just mess it up, and to take it to a professional. As long as you have a few tools, and some patience, then you CAN do them on jack stands in your driveway. Just so you know I have zero gear whine. I had a faint hint of it with the stock 3:27's. I swear these are even quiter than my stock gears(and more fun). Now I had a dial indicator, and ft/lb torque wrench, and I bought a inch/lb torque wrench. I also ended up buying some hammers(deadblow, and a big *** metal headed one). Now with the bearings, I bought a whole new instal kit, so when I got the carrier, and pinon out I took them to a local machine shop and paid $15 to have them press the old bearings off, and the new ones on. Otherwise the rest was done by myself. I only want to add in some stuff thats no really included in the write ups that I have read through, and I will post the links for those below. First off the pinon, and the bearing races in the pinon housing after you take out the pinon were an absolute pain to get out for me. I really had to hammer the crap out of the pinon for it to finnaly come out, and I needed a punch for the bearining races. Now everyones write up I read they had no problems with this, so it might be hit or miss per car. Nothing to discourage though.



The other problem was installing the new bearing races. After I had finished someone recomended throwing them in the freezer the day before you start so they shrink. And the last problem that I had since I had no impact gun handy was getting the pinon nut to crush the sleeve while laying under your car. Now Some say don't use an impact, and some say you can so obviously it is up to you. I didn't want to mess anything up so I just used a breaker bar that was only 20" so once again it can be done, but be ready for a workout. Besides that it was just following the write up, and specs. I got really lucky on the shimming process, the second time shimming I cam right in at .012 backlash. Well I probably left some small things out but if anyone has any questions they can PM me. Here are just some of the pics I took along the way, and a couple other pics of when I put the Pypes X-pipe in, and one other pic.











Here are the two write ups I used.
Mike's 2002 Mineral Gray Mustang GT Write-ups : Mike's Mustang - Pictures, Videos, Write-ups, How to's, Parts for Sale, Guest book
CarTech, Inc.: Browsing Ford 8.8 Inch Differential Gear Swap

 

Nice post and good to see someone else who is up to just doing the work themselves. How are you like those gears now?

 

Night, and day diffrence. Sorry about posting it in the 2V section.

 

Nice work man. I wish I had the ***** to attempt the gear install.

 

no kidding, me too.

nice work though man!

 

Nicely done!

 

Good job. Gear install is really something I don't feel comfortable with, so it's good to see you able to handle it. I know when it comes down to it I will be out of pocket $275 to let the shop do it.

 

I am telling you guys. If you can gather a few tools, and a few days to do it. It is really not that hard. I was kinda scared myself till I actually opened her up and got inside. It is a little more reasuring when you can see things for yourself. BTW Seanstang, and 01FR500, you both have some good looking cars.

 

Congrats on the install and like Spike said doing the job yourself makes it that much sweeter. Carry on young man !!!!!!