Installing Motive 3.73 Gears soon

[03ghoststang]

Mustang tuning never returend my e-mail early in the week... or at all actually... so I kept my motives. And while motives are "known for whine" gears dont wine... only improperlly installed/shimmed ones do. So its not the Motive gears that whine its the install. RICHMOND gears do whine...but i honestly dont know whats up with them. I've known people with motives though and have never had a problem (i'm hoping i'm one of them).

Like all the mods that i've done on my car. Now that i've DONE a gear install...i'm confident i could do another hassle free in a few hours. I've just been unlucky with parts and supplies i guess.

Don't be afraid to do the install yourself though, its really not as hard as i thought it would be. Which probably sounds ironic for me to say, since this has been a nightmare install LOL. But really its not too complicated. I even rebuit my t-lok. Which is a good idea to do while you install gears, as those friction plates burn up often enough if you romp on the car

But im heading back outside now to finish this job up. I'm just torqueing the pinion down and then installing the carrier and re-assembling everything. Shouldn't take me too long...

Oh, by the way. Get FRPP gears. They just are the best to go with. I went with motives at the time cause i was cheap and broke... lol I saved $80 by getting motives... but really i regret doing it. I love FRPP stuff.

glad to hear that you are making good progress on the gear install now that you know how to do the install its not as hard as people say it is

and FRPP = teh win

 

[BlackenedSVT]

ok i am running into a problem again LOL

After having assembled it all about to put the paint on the ring gear to check the pattern i realized it was impossible (damn near anyway) to rotate the ring gear and pinion. After calling my ford guy again, he said i had the pinion not-tight-enough. And it was locking up the diff. I did the "pre-load" right, or so i thought...

im heading back outside now to figure out what i did wrong....time to take it all apart for the 18th time now lol

 

[BlackenedSVT]

NEVER ENDING NIGHTMARE

Well now that its been a whole week and my gears still aren't in, i've given up. The other night after finally realizing how to do the pre-load and backlash on the pinion, it came to be that the jacks that i had my car on did not allow me enough room to apply the strength and leverage needed to crush the collar on the pinion with my breaker bar. and i didn't have any air tools,. so i had to throw in hte towel and call my guy at Ford to take over this job cause i couldn't do it in my garage.

Lesson for anyone wanting to do gear install: YOU NEED A LIFT

So now im pissed i have to pay my friend at ford like $200 to do this install cause i've already spent like $100 on tools and what not + money on gear oil just so i can save some cash and do it my self and get experience. Well AAA comes and they tow my car over to Ford. I forgot the driveshaft was out though and i didn't have a plug for it. I get to the ford dealership and meet the AAA driver there, and my car dumped out ALL the transfluid all over his flat bed. I just start laughign cause this nightmare just keeps getting more and more expensive. Well, i wanted to to a transflush.....i guess thats one way of doin it

So my ford friend WAS going to do this as a side job overnight, but now he can't and kinda forced me to go through Ford, so he can work on it during the day at work. Which sucks cause ford is chargering me like $94 /hr to install the gears + any "extra" parts he may need. So now its going to be at LEAST $300.

This has been one hell of an experience let me tell you LOL. Even though this gear install is going to cost me like $1,000....i did learn a lot from it. But if you want to do gears yourself, please learn from my nightmare here. I sure learned alot, and after i watch this ford guy install those gears i think i'd be able to install another set. Even after ALL this, i still say gears aren't really hard to install. Its just my lack of a lift that REALLY prevented me from doing so.

 

[BlackenedSVT]

FORD'S BILL FOR GEAR INSTALL: $550
(That is with me giving the car already half dissassembled to my Rear-End Ford tech friend who worked on it during his weekly hours).

I gave him the car with the driveshaft out, pinion out (with new bearings pressed on), calipers and ABS hanging loose and the new ring gear already on the carrier with my t-lock already rebuilt.

He installed new carrier bearings & races, threw the new pinion in and shimmed it (which took HOURS he said) and throw everything else back together.

Last time this same Ford Tech did my car after hours, it cost me $200 to install my FRPP 4.10 gears on my 98GT all said and done. NOW, with half of it dissasembled it cost me $550. This tech, while not a good friend, is friendly with me and know he wouldn't rip me off. He told me installing those motive gears were a pain in the ass due to shimming the pinion.

LESSON LEARNED FOR NEXT MUSTANG...STICK WITH FRPP GEARS...

On a side note however. He installed the gears perfectly and I have no complaints. Driven it 2 days now and it seems to be holding up good. After i get one more day on the car, im going to ROAST these tires off (i have new Nittos that will arrive tomorrow) and i want to see those 2 dual tread marks again (now that i rebuilt my t-lok)!!! NO MORE ONE WHEEL PEELS!!!!!

 

[03ghoststang]

OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!! thats one hefty bill at most it should have been like $300..... that what i tell my customers that the only gear set i install is the FRPP

 

[BlackenedSVT]

OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!! thats one hefty bill at most it should have been like $300..... that what i tell my customers that the only gear set i install is the FRPP

Thats what i get for trying to save money by getting Motives

...lesson learned. FRPP GEARS ONLY touch my car from now on

 

[fallstar01]

Christ!

I was planning on doing a gear install myself but after reading all the BS your going through all i can say is ***** THAT! I am going to take my car to a shop and dish out the extra cash. I really feel bad for you because you sounded real excited before this started and it ended up turning into a nightmare. Really sorry to hear that dude.

Real quick did you ever switch to FRPP 3.73 or stick with motive because i am looking at mustangtuning right now and i'm planning on buying my gears from there. i too have heard of the dreaded whine that motives have been known to make so thats kinda why i think i am going to go with FRPP instead.

Lots of luck and i hope there is a big pay off in the end for you.

Nick

I'd get the FRPP 3.73 gears. Since they're only $20 difference, I think it's worthwhile to get them. I went with FRPP 3.73 and I've never had any problems. It didn't even require any shimming which made installation a breeze.

 

[csledd]

glad it finally got worked out for you. When me and my dad orignally installed my FRPP 4.10 gears it took a max of 4 hours and that was because we had to take the pinion gear to a friends to have it pressed, but we did the install in our small one car garage on jack stands. I'll be reinstalling the gears tonight into a new differential

 

[lexluthr69]

You can get away with just reusing the crush collar. I've done 3 gear installs all reusing the crush collar without a problem. The pinion must be shimmed correctly, of course, but it's not an absolute necessity to use a new crush collar.

Just FYI for future installs.

I am sorry to hear about all your pains. Seems like one big pain in the rear for ya.

I must agree that FRPP gears are the best choice, but I've also used Richmond and have not experience any whine. However, they do take a bit more to set 'em up correctly, than FRPP does.

 

[huudoo]

hi now i am wondering about Motive lol
i found a shop in Cleveland TN, that will put a 355 or 373 Motive gear
in for 325.00 labor and all -
what else should i have done - axel ect
Thanks

 

[03ghoststang]

hi no i am wondering about Motive lol
i found a shop in Cleveland TN, that will put a 355 or 373 Motive gear
in for 325.00 labor and all -
what else should i have done - axel ect
Thanks

well most will say up grade the rear end meaning, axles and diff to a 31- spline set up but that's up to you. Will you be drag racing alot and doing high RPM launches

 

[BlackenedSVT]

hi no i am wondering about Motive lol
i found a shop in Cleveland TN, that will put a 355 or 373 Motive gear
in for 325.00 labor and all -
what else should i have done - axel ect
Thanks

While they are changing the gears have them replace both pinion bearings and both axel bearings + races (sometimes called cups) for both. Also, while they are taking the diff apart, see how your t-lok is holding up. The spider gears keep the t-lok clutch packs together. Might wantt to tell them to take them out and see if they are burned up. The FRPP kit is $45 to replace the T-lok clutch packs. If they are burnt, its best to replace them now so your car keeps its "posi" and you dont have any "one-wheel-peels" goin on like my car had

 

[huudoo]

most likely wont be draging on the strip
street only

 

[BlackenedSVT]

still would want to do what i said if your car has 50k+ miles on it.

 

[03ghoststang]

yup might want to do most bearings seals and check the T-lok