Looking for any insight on a bearing kit for my 02 250 with the 10.5 rear axle. Been searching Google and summit brings up kits but the part number suggests it's for a 10.25. Are the bearings the same for these two ring gear types? TIA

sidenote. Looking for carrier and pinion bearings with races. Ie, bearing kit

 

[QUOTE=Gimmy XJ DuVall;17220300]Looking for any insight on a bearing kit for my 02 250 with the 10.5 rear axle. Been searching Google and summit brings up kits but the part number suggests it's for a 10.25. Are the bearings the same for these two ring gear types? TIA

sidenote. Looking for carrier and pinion bearings with races. Ie, bearing kit[/QUOTE

Good article here on the Sterling 10.25 and 10.50" axles and differences in bearings, etc. Ford 10.25 & 10.50-Inch Axle Tips - Axle Examination

 

So if I'm reading this correctly, it states I can use carrier parts from a 2ng gen 10.25 on my 10.5...so this would include bearings? Because it also talks about getting bigger pinion bearings by using a 10.25 pinion. So I'm a bit confused. I just want to make sure I get the right parts before I tear this down

 

search for DRK317
this is the Timken bearing kit that I just bought for my 2000 F350
it came with pinion bearings, pinion seal, pinion nut, crush sleeve, carrier bearings, gear pattern paint, and gasket maker
I found it cheapest on Amazon

 

The carrier bearings are the same between the 10.25 and 10.5. The pinion bearings are NOT the same.

 

Here is some info on the 10.25 and 10.50 that I received from a gear shop in 2005

The differences between the 10.25"-10.5" are the length of the
pinion splines (short vs long), pinion shaft lengths (10.25 = 8.250"
10.5" = 8.00") , inner pinion bearings (tall vs short 10.25 uses a taller
bearing 10.5 uses a shorter bearing.) Both inner pinion bearings share
the same OD 4.125", same OD as the carrier bearing race it is also very
easy to install a carrier bearing race into the inner pinion bearing
hole, you won't notice it till you try to crush the sleeve. The outside
diameter of the ring gear is 10.375" on the 10.25" and 10.625" on the
10.5" the difference is .188" on a radius more or less, these are nominal
dimensions based on my experience I did not get these numbers out of shop
manual.

You are correct about installing 10.25" gear sets into 10.5"
differentials, as you well know you will need a long spline pinion in a
10.5" application. The long spline pinion first came out on the 10.25" in
1993, from what I heard and from what I have experienced here at my shop
there were a lot of problems with loose pinion yokes. I was told that the
longer splines would make better contact with the pinion and would have
less tendency to come loose. I have seen a lot of loose long and short
spline pinions and I have torn down thousands of long and short spline
differentials, they all had one thing in common...the inner pinion
bearing was loose on the pinion shaft. If the pinion yoke was tight the
inner pinion bearing was also tight. My theory...loose pinion bearing =
loose short or long spline pinion yokes.

When you install a 10.25" gear set into a 10.5" you must use a 10.25"
bearing kit, you cannot use the 10.5" inner pinion bearing on the 10.25"
gear set, everything else is the same. I did try one time to install a
10.5" 3.73 into a 10.25" the problem that I had was ring gear
interference with the inside of the housing it may have been just the
housing I don't know I have never tried it again since then. I don't see
why you couldn't use the 10.5" in a 10.25, just use the 10.5" inner
pinion bearing everything else is the same.

The 10.25" and 10.5" carriers share the same ring gear bolt spacing and
the same ring gear ID, if you are swapping out complete carrier
assemblies you won't have any problems. The very first 10.5" Trac-loks
were actually 10.25" Trac-loks (Mfg by Dana) you can identify them by the
up raised numbers 10.25 on the ring gear side of the case, early model
Trac-loks did not have any numbers. The later 10.5" Trac-loks ( I believe
2000 and up) are all three pinion carriers (vs two pinions on the 10.25"
T/L). All of the three pinion carriers are of a two piece case design,
please note that three pinion carriers were also available as open
carriers (non posi) if you are looking at them on a computer they are
virtually identical.

If you find a less expensive 10.5" Trac-lok you may want to consider
buying it because it will also work in your 10.25" full floating
differential, the three pinion Trac-lok will not work with a semi
floating 10.25" differential ( there are no provisions for C-clips). The
part number for the three pinion clutch kit is F81Z4947AA, the part
number for the two pinion is 72960X. The three pinion kit will have to
come from your local Ford dealer, the two pinion kit will come from a
Dana dealer (its a lot cheaper too.) Ford actually had Dana discontinue
the Trac-lok because Dana was selling them too cheap to the walk in
public.

You can also use pre '93 gear sets in all 1993-1997 10.25" applications,
all you will need is a short spline pinion yoke with the same size
u-joint. The pinion splines on a 10.25" and 10.5" are both 31 spline, the
crush sleeves are also the same (ditto for Ford 9" 8.8 7.5).