Ok guys.. I just picked up front and rear 44's. My front gears are 354's and the rear is 307's. Now the markings on the ring pinion of my 307's reads +3 and my 354 replacement ring pinion reads +0, now I have heard that you can get away with a differnece of 2 but with my situation should I be adding shims or removing them? Now, my buddy and I are going to attack this while some think that it should be left to the professionals. All I ask is that everyone that knows any facts about changing gears, please come forward and we can finally make this a more compfortable job to be done by the average joe.

Thanks again..

[QUOTE]Originally posted by NuTzAnBoLtZ
Ok guys.. I just picked up front and rear 44's. My front gears are 354's and the rear is 307's. Now the markings on the ring pinion of my 307's reads +3 and my 354 replacement ring pinion reads +0, now I have heard that you can get away with a differnece of 2 but with my situation should I be adding shims or removing them? Now, my buddy and I are going to attack this while some think that it should be left to the professionals. All I ask is that everyone that knows any facts about changing gears, please come forward and we can finally make this a more compfortable job to be done by the average joe.

I am not an expert by any means, I have only done one gear change. According to the 1975 Ford service manual, If your old pinion is marked +3, and the replacement is marked +0, you need to add .003" more to the existing stack of shims. The book states to start with .030" if there is nothing to reference

More helpfull info:
You will have to have two torque wrenches, one that reads from 40-120 ft#, and one that reads from 0-50 inch#
1/2" or 3/4"(bigger is better) breaker bar
1-1/4" socket (maybe bigger, but this is what the book says)
Pipe Wrench (for holding yoke while loosening and tightening pinion nut)
Cheater pipe (for pipe wrench)
New pinion shims
New pinion seal (dont install 'till you are 100% done)
Gear marking compound (for checking your pattern)
New ring gear bolts (cheap insurance)
Dial indicator with magnetic stand
New Pinion bearing and race (if you want to re-use your old pinion bearing, take it to a shop that does diffs, or manual trannies, have them press it off and on.... TRUST ME!)

***Stuff you need to know***
Backlash between Ring Gear and Pinion .004-.009"(this is why you need dial indicator)
Pinion Bearing preload 20-40 inch pounds (this is the force required to turn the pinion gear once you get it turning. Adjust shim pack till ya get this right)
Pinion Shaft Nut 200-220Ft# (helpfull hint, take old nut and grind top off where it is crimped, use this till you are certain you are done, then use a BRAND NEW pinion nut)
Diff. bearing cap bolts 70-90ft#
Ring gear attaching bolts 45-65ft#

Stuff you might want to look into...
an install kit, comes with pinion and diff. bearings, shims, ring gear bolts, and bearing marking compound, pinion seal etc
A shop manual showing the proper procedure for doing this procedure(would you trust a newbie with this kind of info????)


have fun.... (I know I didn't)

Hey man thanks for the info. Like you said I'm not gonna trust one opinion, but thats what this forum is for a gathering of information. I appreciate the time you took to give me yours. Just because your clasified as a newbie due to lower post count, that doesn't mean you don't know your shit.

:D :flipoff2: :D ........Welcome to the forum newbie :D


NuTzAnBoLtZ