??? about rear gear/pinion replacement

[shabbadoobie]

I had my '01 Sport Trac in the tire shop today (re-balancing the 35" MTRs for the third time in 3 weeks) and the service guy tells me "you know that your rear end is going out don't you?" Unfortunantly I think he is right. For the last 15k miles or so I have been hearing this high pitch whine from the rear of the truck and just ignored it thinking it was tire noise (bad news is that it sounds the same even after I changed my tires ) Anyway when they had it up on the lift the rear sounded awful--I'm now sure it IS the rear end and guess what? I'm all out of warranty. It has the 8.8 rear end 4.10 LS. I guess it's time to go to 4.56 maybe anyway (I went from 30" tires to 35"---Maybe going down to 33's) But my ?? is this---Is this something a regular guy can do on his own or is it going to take the expertise of a mechanic? Any estimate as to cost?
One more question---Today I pulled up to a stop sign and when I pressed my brakes, it slowed down like normal & then locked up one tire on the rear. (never done that before) I tried it in my driveway & it does the same thing. If you stop easy it is ok, But if you stop even a little hard it locks up the same rear tire. This is happening after having the same tire replaced that is locking up--any thoughts? Thanks for your help.

 

[Derrick C.]

I can answer the gear swap part. If your really mechanically inclined do it but if your a novice leave it to a pro. I learned by watching my friends and now I can do it in a few hours. As for cost I'm not really sure. Most people I've seen here say atleast $1000. I myself when I first did 4.56s and ARBs front and rear and had a pro do it, it cost me $950. Make some calls and ask ?s.