Hey guys. Thanks for taking a look. I have a 2004 F150, New body. I have some noise in my rear differential and it leaks from two different spots. After looking into the work myself and from a mechanic I am looking to just swap out the rear end completely and not deal with seals and bearings and the mountain of other things that could be wrong. I am not very familiar with these rear ends though. I looked up my axle code and it is a 19, which is the non posi track 3.55 gear ratio. First, is this the 8.8? Second, can I swap it with a limited slip or a heavier axle so long as it has the same gear ration? (It is a 4x4) and lastly, anybody know a good place to look for these online? I am having a hard time finding good websites to search for these. Any help would be great. Thank you very much guys.

 

I think salvage yards are a good place. Online kinda kills you in shipping fees. I had the 19 also. I rebuilt mine with a posi track carrier instead of an open one. I'm very pleased with it. You can count the cover plate bolts to determine if it's an 8.8. 10 Bolts.

 

+1 on the shipping fees. It's a big heavy object! I've had good luck in the past with local auto salvage places also. Then you can see what you're buying, and what it came out of.

 

By the time you pay shipping and get it to you, you still have a rearend with unknown history that you will probably need to do something to in the future. Better off just to tackle the "mountain" of problems. Where are your leaks coming from and what other problems are in this "mountain"? Unless you have a crack in the housing or something wrong with the gears, all of this work can be done in with simple hand tools in at least an afternoon if you are enjoying some

Aassuming you have the 8.8, wheel bearings and axel seal kit ($25) some RTV for the diff cover ($5), and some standard 75w140 since you have an open diff ($50-100 depending on how high of grade you go). So say you get all this, and have some other misc. expenses. You will still come in at less than $200 and you will basically have your bases covered. Hell, even if you pay for a dealer to do all this, it should be less than $500.

I dont know about you, but I would rather have the rearend I have, and rebuild it than get a junkyard rearend with all the unknowns you have with it.

 

I would pull the cover off and inspect. Have rtv and some cheap gear oil at the ready. Could just be worn spider gears. If you want to check it without pulling the cover you can unscrew the fill plug and check for metal shavings (its magnetic). If there are no shavings it could be bearings or clutch packs. Ohh one more thing, you could add friction modifier to quite it down a bit