alright, i have a 302 1970 Ford Maverick and right now it has an 8 inch rear end, mini spooled with 3.00 ratio gears and im wanting to cahnge the gear ratio to 3.80 and im wondering how i would go about doing that. Any help/informtion on this would be appreciated as im pretty clueless when it comes to this. thanks
If you are clueless, then you would likely be better off buying a 3.80 ring and pinion set, and paying for someone else to install it. I think the installation will run you less than $200, and you can get the gears for $100-150. 3.80 is a good choice. I love mine with mini-spool. Not trying to put down your mechanical abilities, but even for someone with good abilities, the installation of gears is a bit tricky.
Agreed! I set one up several years ago and thought I was doing good. Well, every time I let off the accelerator I would have a gear whine. It never got any better or worse but it always bugged the crap out of me. I just pay someone that knows what they are doing now. Too much hassle having to take them back apart and redo.
Another option that MIGHT save you some money is to buy a complete center chunk ready to install in the gear of your choice. I have a 3.00 and a 3.25 9" center for my F100 that I change around once in a while. Used to also have a 3.70. I can change the center chunk in my F100 in about an hour if I try and I have 3 bad discs in my lower back. A young man could do it in 30 minutes. Just another option. clint
I did EXACTLY the same thing with doing my own. Let off gas and it whines. I finally took it off last fall and took it to a transmission shop and the guy looked at it and fixed it for $80. It was just the pinion nut. I didn't have the 250 lb/ft to crank it down enough to crush the crush sleeve. He said the allignment was nearly perfect, but the sleeve wasn't crushed. Now silent. The way it is supposed to be.
Hell, the factory 2.79 gear in my '72 daily beater whines like crazy, especially at lower speeds. But that could just be because it has over 280,000 miles on it. Plan to swap it to a 3.00 soon.
I've been waiting for so long now to upgrade my rear. I did some reading and I don't feel comfortable doing it myself, seems very messy too. I agree with above, it it's just changing the pumpkin then that may be ok to attempt yourself but the rest is just not for me. Then again, everything about this hobby is hands on so if you are willing to then give it a shot.
the sawdust trick is a bandaid that used car salemen use to use. it will not do you any good to put into your diff of the car you love.
As a mechanic I have pulled the cover off a hand full with the dreaded sawdust "Trick" I told a customer once in jest they must have read the directions wrong the sawdust is supposed to be on the outside for shipping..... He bought it. I never did tell him I was kidding
