kweejibo

I have a 2000 f150 4.6L that has some rear end noise and I'm trying to figure out the best way to fix it. I opened it up and found some broken teeth on the spider gears and the right axle gear. I'm an okay mechanic when it comes to pulling stuff apart and replacing with identical parts. The problem I am having is that the truck has a LS 3.55 gr, 8.8rg with disc brakes, but all I can find at local wreckers have drums. I know its a downgrade on the brakes (and probably a downgrade to non-LS) but I want to get it back up and running so I'm wondering if this would be a simple swap?

PerryB

Probably not simple. The parking brake cables will almost certainly have to be changed, along with the brake lines. Next is the driveshaft, it may or may not bolt up. Finally there is pressure proportioning. Switching to drums will almost surely put you weak at the rear and you may need to install a different master cylinder. I think it could be quite the can of worms. What trucks are you looking at with drums? Sounds like pre-97 to me.

akdoggie

Perry its not so bad. I did the reverse swap, drums to disc, and all I needed was the shorter right cable (rear from 2002 SCrew 139 wb into 120 wb). If it comes from a matching sized truck it is an easy swap. The brake master cyls are ok, prop valve ok, matches at the rear hose also. I took 2 hours and 4 minutes for a complete swap, bleed out, and cable exchanged. Braking is quite good still.

bubbabud

Why not just buy new gears and clutch pack and rebuild? As long as the ring and pinion are not changed you should not have to worry about "set up".

kweejibo

The rear end I'm looking at is off a '98; seems like drums are more common on the 8.8 than the 9.75. I had thought about rebuilding, but it doesn't seem worth it on an old work truck. Like I said, I'm an okay mechanic when it comes to doing simple swaps, but pulling the rear end apart seems like more than I would want to take on.

Would I be able to take the disk assembly off the old one and replace the drums on the new?

bubbabud

A set of spiders and new clutches just for good measure probably cheaper than junk yard axle and no more work to change and without ring and pinion swap no need to worry about gear set up its a straight bolt in swap to change spiders and clutches.

PerryB

Thanks, that's good to know. Years ago I put a Dana 60 in the rear of a 79/F150 (don't ask-young and dumb) and it was an economy size can of worms. I guess I'm still a little gun shy.
Hadn't seen you around much, thought maybe Alaska broke off and floated away. I wish California would, except I'd stay on the mainland and watch it sail off into the sunset. Figuratively speaking, it already is. I'll stop now. ....

PerryB

Assuming the R&P are in good condition (as you said) this would be my first course of action as well. Even if pinion and carrier bearings need replacement, it will have negligible to no effect on patterning. Just put all the shims back in their original positions. The only trick is getting the pinion preload right without going too far. Personally I shim my pinions for preload and eliminate the crush sleeve. If you have to change a pinion seal later, its easy cheesy. You gun the pinion nut down until its TIGHT and you're done.
Food for thought.

kweejibo

Thanks for the advice. I'll pull out the gears and clutch packs this weekend to make sure there is no other damage and then order some new ones if all looks good

kweejibo

Back to square one. I can't seem to find side gears for the LS diff as everything I look at is for the open carrier. A couple of wreckers talked to don't want to let me rip apart thier rear ends just for the gears since they'd rather try to sell the whole unit. I may have to bite the bullet and change the rear end