How hard to change rear diff myself?

[ShadowRaven]

All right so I've been doing some looking and am thinking on settling on a Summit 4.10 Rear Diff for my newly lifted Ex, and I'm curious as to how hard this would be to do myself. I've heard it can cost upwards of $1000 and um, no, I'm not gonna pay that. I want to do this myself to learn more about my truck and any thoughts/ideas/pointers would be awesome. I still haven't 100% decided on the 4.10, but I'm gonna call Ford and some gearing shops to find out exactly what I need for my Ex. Thanks guys.

 

[LBarr2002]

What gears do you have now and what size tires are you running/planning to run?

It'd be a lot cheaper to buy a complete factory 4.10 axle from a junkyard and swap the whole axle than it would be to buy gears and have them installed or buy all the equipment needed to install them yourself.

 

[ShadowRaven]

What gears do you have now and what size tires are you running/planning to run?

It'd be a lot cheaper to buy a complete factory 4.10 axle from a junkyard and swap the whole axle than it would be to buy gears and have them installed or buy all the equipment needed to install them yourself.

I was running 235/70s with a 3.73, now I have 295/75s with the same 3.73. Yeah, I was starting to think about just doing an entire housing swapout, I've heard it would just be easier.

 

[LBarr2002]

If you're going to buy and install gears, you'll be disappointed if you spend all that money to just go to 4.10's. If you're running 33's? go 4.56.

If you do the complete axle swap, 4.10's are the lowest stock gears used.

 

[ShadowRaven]

If you're going to buy and install gears, you'll be disappointed if you spend all that money to just go to 4.10's. If you're running 33's? go 4.56.

If you do the complete axle swap, 4.10's are the lowest stock gears used.

Yeah, I had been hearing that 4.56 was what I would need, my dad was just arguing with me saying that when he worked on his farm way back in the day, 4.10 was a pretty beefy gear ratio, and just he was thinking 4.56 was just too much. I was personally leaning towards the 4.56, and a lot of other people were saying to go with that as well, so I'll just head down that route. Hopefully I can find a junkyard with a 4.56 and get this baby rolling.

 

[1993fordexploere]

Yeah, I had been hearing that 4.56 was what I would need, my dad was just arguing with me saying that when he worked on his farm way back in the day, 4.10 was a pretty beefy gear ratio, and just he was thinking 4.56 was just too much. I was personally leaning towards the 4.56, and a lot of other people were saying to go with that as well, so I'll just head down that route. Hopefully I can find a junkyard with a 4.56 and get this baby rolling.

good luck finding the 4.56 in the junk yard. anything higher (higher in number, lower in gears) then 4.10 would have to be bought brand new. personally i have 33's and am running with stock 3.73s and am doing fine right now. drive it like this for a while and see if it bugs you. if it does swap gears, if it doesnt then your good. i still do fine with my stock gears but everyone likes it different

 

[techieman33]

Go with 4.10's unless it's strictly an off road play toy. 4.56 gears would kill your gas mileage on the highway.

 

[ShadowRaven]

Go with 4.10's unless it's strictly an off road play toy. 4.56 gears would kill your gas mileage on the highway.

Yeah, that's what I was hearing also. It's strictly just a play toy, but for on road , so I'll prolly just stick with the 3.73s right now and see how it works out. My gas mileage seems like it's pretty consistent with what it was previously, so hopefully it will all work out the same and I can save some cash lol. Thanks for all the inputs guys.

 

[LBarr2002]

my dad was just arguing with me saying that when he worked on his farm way back in the day, 4.10 was a pretty beefy gear ratio, and just he was thinking 4.56 was just too much. I was personally leaning towards the 4.56, and a lot of other people were saying to go with that as well, so I'll just head down that route. Hopefully I can find a junkyard with a 4.56 and get this baby rolling.

My dad did the same thing...but what some 'Old-Timers' forget is that nowadays we have this nifty thing called OVERDRIVE . My dad was thinking about the days of his '55 Chevys with 4.56s.

I'm running 5.13's with 33's right now and absolutely love it! Just waiting till I can affort 35's though. I can run along at 60 MPH with no problem, I stay away from the interstate though.

 

[HahnsB2]

Don't forget 4.30s.
Your gas mileage will suck either way with 33s, turning around 2400 RPMs at 65 with 4.56s is fine.