Downsides:
- When breaking traction around corners, the 'correct/recovery' time was hard to pin down, so it would make me fish tail more than I wanted to.
- It is harder to hook - meaning, it was harder to get traction from a non-rolling start without just peeling out.
- It's dumb and looks stupid when only one wheel burns out.
I wound up getting an Eaton Trutrac limited slip for the Beast. Apparently, these ford 9" rear ends are pretty easy to mock around in, so let's do this. It also helps that Jacob, the guy who actually knows what he is doing, will be doing the same thing to his cougar as well!.
Here are the specs of the old 9":
- 3.00 gearing
- conventional non-lock
- original...the differential fluid was probably never changed
Here are the specs of the new one:
- 3.25 gearing
- Eaton Trutrac limited slip
Enough typing; here are some pictures:
First step, Take the axle(s) out!
This is when I realized the drum brakes could use some servicing....let's just punt that down the road for now though.
Gah, everything is so freakin' dirty. I tried to hold my breath as a miasma of brake dust formed around me. I had eye protection at least.
This thing was actually pretty easy to pop out. Just a couple of bolts holding the axel plate to the housing and it pops right out.
So on the axel(s), you'll see an axel backing plate! (note the direction...because I sure the hell didn't and it costed me later) After that, it is the ball bearings that all it to spin freely in the axel housing.
Might as well replace those!
So here is my shot of my old 9". That entire thing is coated in a solid layer of....grime. Probably 30 years worth too. I have to pop all those bolts off and drain the gajillion year old goop from out of there.
Thar she blows.
Here is something interesting; this differential gear oil STINKS. The best way I can describe the smell is if a robot baby pooped its diapers and then died in the diapers only to be found in a metal baby robot coffin 30 years later. It is strange how much gear oil like this can stink.
My sincerest apologies to Jim; because between Jake and me, there were about 6 quarts of old gross differential oil just stinking up the shop that day.
But above you see the old one out. (and some other parts)
Now it is just waiting for a brand new one to go in! And some fresh gear oil too!
Box o goodies. Non-synthetic gear oil for the new differential, some new bushings and a few other things.
So now the fun part! I have to get those bearings off before I put the new ones on. A careful hour with the grinder and everything was cut off.
Those are still the old bearings, but See that plate? When I finally got the new bearings pressed on (Jacob operated the hydraulic press for me), I realized I put those damn plates on backwards. The plates are beveled, so if they are backwards, it will press against the bearings and prevent the axel from spinning. Of course, I found this out all the hard way.
Insert me spending another good amount of time CUTTING those stupid plates out. TWO runs to Summit later, I finally got plates that fit correctly and were fortunately horse shoe shaped, allowing me to put the axel in first.
Fast forward 45 minutes later of pouring 2.5 quarts of molasses (gear oil) and boom, new differential is installed and ready to rumble!
The car is firmly planted now. It just feels better.
This was a quick update because I'm still pretty busy; but I'll keep up to date on my progress.
Up next: New Transmission Cooler and lines!
