My 96 E150 conversion van developed a swishing noise a week or so ago that turned out to be the spider gears in the 8.8 rear goin south. Oh well, time to install a new traction loc carrier in it. Almost ordered a set of 3.73's for it too, but decided that was a little too much more work to install. I'll just stick with the 3.55's for now. Can't figure why the spider gears suddenly started wearing at 140K miles though.

 

swish sound?

i have worn spider gears also but I wouldn’t describe it as a swish.

 

You should look at alternatives to the Traction Loc. I know that a lot of people like them (at least for the price), but personally I think they (and all other clutch-type limited slips) offer the worst of both worlds: the poor stability of a locker or spool with the poor traction of an open diff.

When you are replacing the carrier with new is the perfect time to put a TrueTrac in it. Better traction that a Traction Loc, but also less likely to scuff tires and spin you out on snow or ice. (Lockers are also available if you're looking for even more traction, but an E150 conversion van isn't likely to need more than a TrueTrac, and that's the most streetable traction-aiding diff, so it's what I'd recommend.)

 

Yea, that's what t sounds like. Akin to the sound drum brakes make when rubbing slightly on the drums

 

l have tracloc in the 9" in my Comet, no complaints about it. Had it in the 8.8 Exploder rear I had swapped into my V8 Ranger too, again no complaints. Beside, the price is right too @ $260 for the complete carrier. Only one I've had that gave a problem was my 06 Gt Stang, and only that it was noisy with the thin synthetic lube it came with from Ford.

 

I had that sound on a ford truck once.. Just a few days before the left rear axle melted into at the bearing while I was running up the interstate.. The wheel bearing was going bad and the brakes were slightly rubbing on the drum! You might want to check that out if you haven't already!!

 

Hopefully the axle bearings are fine, they'll get eyeballed though anyway when they're pulled to install the carrier. I replaced one axle twice now, the other once in the past 40K miles (one new axle wasn't heat treated apparently at the bearing surface and failed after a year). No grease leaking from the ends, so hopefully the bearing are OK. The spider gears and the center pin are definitely worn, there's visible play in all. Specially the cross pin, that's why I'm installing a new carrier. The lube looked like sludge, I don't recall what brand I used before, but I'll definitely go back with a brand name lube this time. Might have been the lube failure that caused the wear.

 

You apparently have worked on differentials before.. I have limited knowledge on that but have replaced wheel bearings and pulled the diff out of my 85 E150 with a Ford 9", cleaned the housing ad put it back together but not a 8.8..

on my 88, I have a vibration from my rear axle from 60 mph to around 80mph so if its not the drive shaft, I am going to have to get into mine and see what is going on.

So I have been watching videos and reading a good bit to learn what to do.... So my question is: Why are you replacing the whole differential? The cross pin is locked into the differential housing with a bolt and does not spin in the housing so the wear on the pin would be from the spider gears rotating on the cross pin. Why don't you just replace the spider gears and cross pin?

If you are replacing the differential, what makes it more work to replace the gears with 3.73's?
Just curious because I was thinking if I have to do major work on mine, that maybe the 3.73 gears might give a bit better gas mileage on the highway, not sure about that yet.. My reasoning is that I live in the foothills of the GA mountains and my E150 conversion van with a 302 sometimes struggles up long grads when in OD.

What I noticed is that on some long hills I have to keep the throttle pressed almost all the way down to maintain speeds (without it kicking down into drive). If I drop it down into drive it takes half the throttle to maintain speed on the same hills. I started checking gas mileage and my van gets better when I just let it kick down into drive in hilly areas. I am think something similar might apply if you are pulling a trailer in an area with just mild..
What do you think and what was your thoughts about going to the 3.73's?

 

I don't tow anything long distance any more, nor plan on doing so in the future with this van, so unless I go to a taller tire later on, the 3.73's aren't going to do me much good for the work involved.(getting lazy as I get older)
When I went to 28" tires from the factory 29's that effectively changed the 3.55's to 3.63's. You'd do well to go to 3.70's in your 9" for the 302 if you do lots of driving in the hills. The increased ratio is also a torque multiplier and the 302 needs all the help it can get. Just turning off the OD shows you this.
The 9" is easier to set up with the removeable chunk. Not so with the 8.8

 

As I am just learning about this.. Let me see if I understand this correctly then.
You will be replacing the carrier and swapping the ring gear to the new carrier?
By doing that, the only adjustment you will have to worry about is backlash because the even with the new carrier, the pinion depth will stay lined up with the ring gear?

It would be the same if you just pulled a carrier and replaced the carrier bearings, the ring gear and pinion depth does not change..

 

Correct. Only thing I think I should do is keep the ring gear clocked with the pinion shaft as it is now. I want to try and keep the wear pattern between individual teeth the same. Not sure if you can set the backlash on the 8.8, I don't recall seeing the nuts in there like the 9" has. I'll see next weekend when I dig into it further.

 

You have to set backlash on all diffs, but many aren't as easy as the 9" with the adjusting nuts. Others you need to move shims around. It can be a lot of trial and error from what I hear (a friend had his 8.8" apart 12 times before he liked his results).

 

That's what I was thinkin that it had shims.

 

No the 8.8 uses shims on each side of the carrier to set the backlash.. My 88 E150 has the vibration and it has a Ford 8.8, 3.55, open differential. My 85 has the 9" and when I replaced the axle shaft bearings and seals I only pulled the differential out so I could clean the housing and visually inspect the gears (not that I knew what to look for then).

Yes keeping the wear pattern the same will be very important... Now I am not the one to really give advice on this but from what I have learned reading, there are two things you want to do. You want to measure the backlash a precisely as possible with a dial indicator before removing the old carrier. Probably one with a magnetic base but if you had fabbed a bracket that would bolt to the housing it would be even more stable and accurate. You record the backlash measurement and when you install the new set up, you want the exact same backlash..
You also want to clean the ring gear, apply the paint to it and check the wear pattern before removing the old carrier. Take pictures of the pattern on both sides (I think it is called the drive and coast sides of the ring gear). You will check this again once you have the new set up in place and the back lash set to the old specs. Use the pictures to match them with the new setup.

If all of that is correct then the wear pattern should be all most the same or at least as close as you will be able to get it...

Then there is another issue, the carrier bearing preload. On the 9“ that is done with the adjusting nuts.. (while I was typing this I noticed Nothing Special already covered part of this..
The carrier bearing preload on the 8.8 is done with the shims.
The way I understand it, say you are just replacing the carrier bearings, same carrier, and not missing with the pinion.
When you remove the carrier you should keep the factory shims in the order you removed them as well as what side they came from. That will give you a good start in determining what shims you will need when reinstalling the old carrier. This should work if the new bearings are the same exact thickness (which can vary as well as possibly how tight they are pressed on) so it can be a few thousandths different. Since you are replacing the carrier, the size and number of shims may be quite different but again it wold be a good start. Like Nothing Special said it will take many tries.

Everything I have read says you want the carrier to fit in place with minimal effort and no side to side play at all. Then you check the backlash and wear pattern adjusting the shims till you have it correct. Once the wear pattern and backlash is correct, the carrier slides in snug and with no side to side end play at all, then you add the final shims to set the carrier bearing preload.

I found a post about preload here.
8.8" Carrier bearing preload ?
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...g-preload.html

important exerts from that thread:
when you find the thickest shim that goes in by hand pressure you have no side play but no preload yet either. Then I say to add .006 to that on each side, which is .012 total. That .012 will make the preload which you will know when you have to hammer the last shim in. If this setting is done right you will not be able to pull the carrier out by hand once the shims are installed.

A different poster said this about preload:
As far as the carrier bearingg preload is concerned, most factory manuals give a spec that is too tight for my tastes, and it shows every time we tear one down to re-bearing. The way I do it is this: With pinion installed, install carrier, get backlash close with some preload on carrier, carrier should not fall out, nor should you need to pry it out, grab it with both hands and give it a yank, if it comes out with a little effort, good, if it falls out,increase shim thickness until you have some resistance, all the while maintaining your backlash. When you have the backlash and light carrier bearing preload obtained add .003 to each side shim and you will be fine.


Since you will be reusing the old ring and pinion gears,,, I am not sure which method I would use so set the preload, the 006 or the 003...

Ok well all this might be worthless but is what I understand would need to be done..

 

Update on the 8.8: I decided to bite the bullet and change the ratio, only I'm not going to 3.73 but to 4.10. Did the math on the 3.73's and found only a 100 rpm difference vs the 3.55's. going to 4.10's will change that by 280 rpms, this will help in towing a heavier trailer, something I avoided before. I pulled the whole rear out today and cleaned it up, just waiting on parts now to get it back together. Can't wait now to see the difference with the traction loc and 4.10's. This will allow it to run at a lower mph on the highway without it hunting between direct and OD. That'll probably improve the mileage too makin the trip across Texas every summer