Here is some pics of the 8.8" differential I purchased, to be a donor setup for my truck.

It is a 3.55 ratio, with Limited Slip, and here's my concerns:

-When I drained the fluid, 4 metal "Slugs" fell out. Turns out they were at one time, the tabs on some of the shims.

-The gears look great, Ring Gear, Pinion Gear, and Spider Gears all look to be in good shape, with no cracks, chips, etc.

-The Carrier Cross Pin Bolt broke apart, and I had to extract it , and I noticed a bit of wear in the carrier its' self.

Here's some pics to help with my questions-

The fluid was RANK, due to age, and Friction Modifier. Long overdue for a change.




Here's some other pics as I disassembled the Carrier, etc.








Note the broken Cross Pin Bolt to the right.




Some time later, when I have some money to actually buy some parts, here's the carrier, etc.

Notice the "Nicks" around the edge of the hole.


And the other hole.


Aside from needing some cleaning/polishing, the spider gears look to be free of cracks, etc.




And the mystery metal pieces I found that were mangled, when I first opened the differential up. Turns out, they were broken off tabs. :/





So aside from the obvious new set of shims, and bolt, what else would I need to put this back in my truck?

I know I need-

-Pinion Crush Sleeve
-Pinion Bearing/Race
-Carrier Bearings/Races
-Shims/kit

Here's a small kit I found-
Ford Racing 8.8" Traction-LOK Rebuild Kit w/ Carbon Discs M-4700-C - Free Shipping!

Not all the parts, but a portion of them.

Any input?

Thanks in advance guys.

 

The chunks missing in the carrier would have me concerned if it were mine.

Aside from the that the trac-loc rebuild kit you listed is a great choice. When I had my last 8.8" apart I also changed the axle bearings.

 

I was hoping to get by with rebuilding the carrier, and replacing the 3 bearing/races associated with it.

Not trying to be a cheap-o, but I need to make the money stretch.

 

I replaced pinion bearings & carrier bearings at 172k, skipped axle bearings, got to do those at 200k. So, just do them now. If you use the same thickness shims (hell I just resued the same shims) and replace the bearings only, you should have no issues with pinion depth or backlash. My 8.8" went from screaming to silent when I reused the factory shims with new bearings, saved me from doing any "real" gear setup work. So long as its the same gearset in the same housing, that should work (bearings are pretty tight tolerance peices).

Do you mean you were hoping to get by replacing the four (not three) bearings & races? Two pinion bearings w/ two races in the housing, and two carrier bearings. Use a big brass punch for driving races.

 

Either way I go, this is gonna cost me out the ***...:/

And yes, I meant the 4 bearings (Freakin' fat fingers).


I just want it to be in spec, and LAST. Also wouldn't mind the actual locking action to be a bit faster than OEM..But if not, that's cool too.

Come on guys, I gave $50 for the entire D44, Front Anti-Sway Bar, and Rear Axles/Differential, the entire setup. Plus, the D44 already had Warn Manual Lockers installed

So I'm really in this for pennies, thus far.

I'm no stranger to bearings, etc...I just know they can get EXPENSIVE, for quality made ones (At this point, that's the only option I'm leaving myself, so that this doesn't have to be re-done later, because of a faulty bearing with ****ty tolerances.)

 

I found this on Amazon.com....


Looks like for roughly $175-ish, I could have my 3.55 Gears swapped in.

 

On a shoe string budget go to the junkyard and collect the clutch packs from another 8.8.. or two, and use the best of them to rebuild yours. In the pics you posted you can see that some of the friction disk(those with the tabs) are worn unevenly, that suggests that these were incorrectly installed. To correct this uneven wear put a pressure disk next to the spider gear and stack the clutches with alternating friction and pressure plates instead of the factory stack sequence, this will put an extra friction plate in each stack which will make the whole stack a little bigger and that will increase preload on the S spring and both of those things will improve LS action.. significantly.

 

I'm assuming this can be done with the first kit I posted a link to?

I'd rather pay the extra bit of money in that area and have new, and KNOW there's no uneven wear, etc right off the bat.

I do appreciate the tidbit of info on the clutch packs.

 

Yes, you can do the alternate clutch/spacer packing trick with the kit listed previously. I used that technique when I rebuilt the rear axle on our old 1997 Mustang GT several years ago.

 

Awesome.

This might actually go kinda smoothly then.


I have the Ford Manual Papers for adjusting the Limited Slip Differentials, etc... So I'm sure that'll be handy.