01 sport - 4.0 SOHC STS turbo charged (Project complete)

[CDW6212R]

It may be time for a V8.

 

[Jakee]

The drive shaft looked good.

The transmission output shaft has play in it. I'd say 1/16 to an 1/8 inch of play from side to side...

 

[Jakee]

It may be time for a V8.

Sounds like a plan. The only thing is these 4.0 SOHC in the sport model can really move. The power is there, no doubt, it's like everyone says in here, the tranny options are not good.

Just thinking about it, I really don't think this would have happened if I wouldn't of wheel hoped so bad. The open rear end I had originally didn't cause this and I wasn't expecting it with the lock-rite. Wheel hop can damage a lot of things, even stroger units.

I never had slip when shifting with the 5r55e


I'll pull the tranny pan tomorrow and if I find any good stuff I'll shoot some pics. I know everyone want's to see big pc's of metal in the tranny pan.

 

[Jakee]

I had a buddy look at the output shaft and he says this is pretty normal play. He thinks it's the powertrax lock-rite locker I just installed. There are some little shear pins that wallowed out there holes in the housing it and looks like this is causing it not to hold once I get on it hard.

So, maybe the transmission is not bad yet.

 

[CDW6212R]

That would be good. If you have not yet done the VB kit and new EPC, now would be a good time to do it.

 

[Jakee]

Yeah, I'm over here pointing my fingers at the first thing that moves. It's this....no. It’s that...Heck, maybe it's everything.

I'm a little upset at this powertrax locker. I'm tempted to put it back together and borrow my neighbor’s slicks just to shear it in half. If I can get the thing back out I'll show you what I'm talking about.

I'm going to throw in a posi unit I bought from James awhile back that just been sitting here.

 

[CDW6212R]

I hope the 4WD helps my Torsen diff. to survive, those are not for drag racing either. They work great as long as they don't see the high forces like off the line racing.

 

[Jakee]

I've got new 3:73 gears coming with an install kit. I'll be taking the rear end out from under it and rebuilding the entire unit. I'll be using a track loc this time and replace the clutches to freshen it up.

I've got a theory of what happened.

With me beating on it off the line and the wheel hop from the new locker the pinion separated from the ring just enough to cause the shear pins in the locker to take the brunt of the force. The ring and pinion should make contact before the shear pins in the lock-rite and I don't think that was happening anymore. The cause was the shear pins breaking the cavities in the lock-rite which then caused pcs of the lock-rite housing to ride thru the gears a couple of times. This explains the clunk I would hear from time to time when just driving normal. Also, with that much slack the springs in the unit would get in a bind. This probably reduced the spring force which in return wouldn’t have enough force to hold the two halves together. The result was the two halves of the lock rite disengaging under load and making the entire racket I heard. That’s my story and I’m sticking too it.

Now, with my luck, I’ll spend big money on the rear-end rebuilding, slap it all back together and transmission blow up.

 

[jah81592]

Dump the Powertrax and install the Ford carrier I sold you. I have several 8-9 sec 1/4 miles 'Stangs running the same 31T carrier without problem. I also run this carrier (with stacked clutches) without a single failure. If you setup correctly they will work good and can get agressive.-j

 

[Jakee]

James - When you say stacked clutches, you do mean shim, steel, friction, steel, friction.....ect, correct?

 

[CDW6212R]

Yes, the shims at the end stay where they are(adjust as needed there), but you swap the friction and steel plates around to eliminate the extra steels. You end up with one more friction on each side, four instead of three.

 

[wood1]

You can search mustang forums for instructions on how to do it, when I did my mustang it was so tight I had to file the ends of my axles to get the pinion shaft into the carrier. I can't remember what I decided on for end play tolerances. It lasted with me pounding on it for 6 years after rebuilding it. I had a mildly built 302 (300 hp) and 3.55 gears. Always burned posi, even when turning right, didn't chatter, lasted through 3 clutches and a flywheel...

 

[Jakee]

Tip of the day.

You can knock out old axle bearing with out the Slide tool if you're creative. Take a pc of 3/4 black natural/propane 4 - 5 feet long gas pipe and slide it thru one side of the axle to knock the opposite axle bearing out. The pipe is pretty cheap at home depot but I had a pc laying around.

You guys probably already know this but hey.

 

[CDW6212R]

That would be a better home made tool. I've done it at least five times without a slide hammer. I plan to use the proper tool from now on, it's much easier and faster.

 

[Jakee]

Give me some pointers on knocking the pinion bearing races back in. (the ones in the rear end itself - already got the one pressed on the pinion)

 

[IZwack]

I just used a wooden dowel and light taps with a deadblow to get them back in.

 

[Jakee]

It really hasn't been fun installing these new gears and trak loc. I've had the thing apart and back to gether about 5 times and I'm tired of beating bearings in and out. The wear pattern is still not perfect but it's close. I'll break it in real good before getting in the throttle.

 

[IZwack]

Yeah the 8.8 is one of the more 'difficultt axles to work with -- the crush sleeve makes it more back breaking than even the Dana axles.

 

[Jakee]

I'm no expert on reading the wear patterns. What I have now is ideal contact on the drive side but I can't get the coast side to give me a good readable pattern - it's like it's not making enough contact to create the pattern. The backlash right now is around 15 thousands and I may tighten that up a little before I install. I just had to get away from it all for a bit because it was getting frustrating.

 

[Jakee]

To get the wear pattern to show up, I held pressure against the ring gear as I turned. Worked nicely. It's done but I have to put a new crush sleeve in cuss I turned the nut too far. I was following a thread on here that said to use the old nut until close, then use the new nut. The problem with this is your mind gets use to how hard you have to turn the nut for the old one. If you turn the new nut at the same pressure you'll tightnen too much.