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I picked up a complete rear end drum to drum with a factory ford trac-lock limited sip differential. For the price ($150) I figured I was going to have to rebuild it top to bottom but after opening it up it looks pretty damn good. The ring teeth are sharp. The axles turn in the same direction. Everything rotates smoothly with no play or squeals
Is there anything I should be looking for in specific? I'm tempted to just completely swap rear ends and see how it does. I wanted to get some F250 springs anyways so if I don't need to spend $200 on a rebuild kit and new clutch packs I'll spend my money on that instead.
If it were mine and I had no information on the diff I would measure how much play there is between the gear by doing a backlash measurement. I also would visually check to see if the pinion seal was leaking bad in the past. Then I would replace cover gasket and fill it up with the correct fluid w/friction modifier. Then I would just thrown it in and drive away but I don't know if I'd buy other parts unless I knew the diff was good first.
You're not taking it 1/4 miling, I don't think.
You know how to turn a wrench pretty good. If you start Friday night, you'll be driving it by Saturday night. Then you'll know how good it is - it might be perfectly fine just the way it is.
Clean out all the oil you can, put in fresh stuff and don't forget the friction modifier.
Yeah and get that friction modifier ordered now or get it from a dealer I like to use the motorcraft stuff. I put too much in from an autozone equivalent once and my trac-lock became an open diff :P
Yup I think I'm just gonna check the backlash and swap it in and see what happens.
While I am at it I am going to replace the leaf springs. They have 198k miles on them. When I was hauling a cubic yard of dirt last week, I was worried about making it home safely. My current leaf springs look to be a 4 leaf pack (three with overload) that sit on 2" factory blocks. I'd like to replace them with 5 leaf pack that will allow me to eliminate the blocks and also increase my load capacity. From what I have read all I need to do is purchase F250 springs and it should do the trick.
If your truck is 4wd, 250 springs will fit.
4WD springs are 3" wide
250 are 3"
2WD are 2 1/2"
That's obviously been running with that backlash for a long time. Unless the gears were badly worn (you said they didn't look to be) I personally wouldn't mess with it.
I'd just button her up and shove it in. You can always change the clutches if you have to. Installing and setting up gears is a major pain in the butt, but pulling the carrier to swap out the clutches isn't that big a deal if it's installed in the truck already.
Your choice of course, I'm just saying there may be absolutely nothing wrong with it and you might end up throwing money you don't have to at it.
The most important thing is to give the spider gears a real close inspection - they're the weak link.
I found some F250 leaf springs locally - 5 leaf pack. I want to replace the leaf spring and shackle bushings before I put the new springs into the truck. I'm a little confused about what I need.
05-04-2016, 05:10 PM
Another project! Differential rebuild - or not?
