Rear differential rebuilt - now speedometer off | Ford Explorer Forums

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Rear differential rebuilt - now speedometer off

sethmorgan

Well-Known Member
Joined
January 11, 2008
Messages
206
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City, State
Hanahan, SC
Year, Model & Trim Level
2002 XLT 4.0
I just had my rear diff rebuilt and now instead of 2 mph off, the speedometer is 5 mph off verified using GPS. I have to say the two events are related. Any idea why?
 



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Did you just have the gears replaced in the diff, or did you also get new cv's? That is where it calculates mph so possibly the work done could have affected something. Is it 5mph slower or faster?
 






Did you change the gear ratio? Gear ratio and tire size (revolutions per mile) are the 2 main things that affect the speedo. Much less likely is the possibility that the wheel speed sensors have changed accuracy. The spindle holds the sensor, while the tone ring rotates past it. The tone ring is pressed onto the rear CV axle.

With my SCT Xcal, I can independently adjust the PCM for changes to gear ratio or tire size. Each brand of tire is slightly different in revolutions per mile, and that data is usually on the tire manufacturers website. But even with accurate data, the mph is often not dead on. I've noticed that when I datalog vehicle speed, it does not always match the speedo. I believe the factory makes the speedo read 2 mph faster than reality, possibly to keep you safe from speeding tickets.

With my Xcal, I can bump the revolutions per mile up or down a little at a time until the speedo matches the GPS MPH perfectly.
 






Dunno about the gear ratio. For all I know it could have changed; they had a differential sitting on the shelf that needed a rebuild. They rebuilt that one and swapped with mine. Turned out to be a limited slip whereas mine wasn't. I have been back three times in two days with the chattering rear wheels while making tight low-speed turns. That and a horrendous vibration/hum at ~65 mph. They are rebuilding my old one and swapping it back in next week.

Originally the speedo read 2 mph higher than actual. Now it reads 5 mph higher than actual.
 






You could check the actual gear ratio on the one they're rebuilding for you before they put the cover on. It sounds like they swapped in a bad diff, and it probably had a slightly different gear ratio.
 






I took it back to have the original (rebuilt) rear end put back in. I hadn't driven the truck since driving it home from the shop four days ago. On the way there, I didn't notice any of the rear wheel chattering at all. They raised the truck and checked out the rear - no vibration. Then they drove the truck to see what I was talking about. I described it as a high-intensity low-frequency vibration that starts at about 62 mph. They agreed I had a vibration but not from the rear end. One of the mechanics climbed around in the back while the other one drove.

The vibration turned out to be the cross bars on the roof rack! The rear bar was all the way at the back and the front bar was about half way back. They moved the bars to the factory positions and no more vibration!

I'm just glad it wasn't something like the torque converter. The speedo discrepancy is still there but I don't care at this point. I'll just have to recalibrate my brain and subtract 5 mph.
 






That's really a weird story about the roof rack. Wouldn't have thought of that!!!

If you want to be able to tune the speedo, gear ratio, etc I can hook you up with an Xcal3. They also work out great as a diagnostic tool for OBD stuff, not to mention add power.
 






Yeah I would love to look into that for some time in the future. I already have a handheld ODB-II reader and a USB ElmScan 5/ScanXL. I realize the Xcal can do a lot more (bi-directional and all). Do you have a decent link? Google search yields nothing but forum posts.
 






You can read about the device at sctflash.com, the manufacturers website. It's hard to describe what the Xcal can do, because it's so vast. But to sum it up best, it does 3 things very well: 1) it adds in performance tunes, 2) it has user-adjustable options that allow you to custom tailor certain things, like rev limiters, top speed limiters, shift points and firmness, tire size and gear ratio, etc. And 3) it is a monster of a datalogger. Unlike most OBD2 dataloggers (ELM 327 etc), this thing is going to be specific to a manufacturer (Ford or GM, depending on what device you buy), and it is going to have VERY fast sample rates.

Instead of just having generic obd2 data, it will have the manufacturer's "enhanced" data also. This data is much more high resolution, and has a faster sample rate. It also has things in there that aren't covered under the obd2 laws. OBD2 is really just about emissions, and things that would affect emissions. Enhanced data is everything the OEM's got for engine/trans data.

We use these for tuning cars on the dyno, and the software is just great. You can record up to 16 - 20 PIDs or DMRs (sensors). And unlike scan tools that just grab data every couple seconds, this thing does it much much more often. You can blow up the screen to full size, and watch O2 sweeps that are as tall as your computer's monitor! And you can choose how many of the 20 datalogging items you want to see at a time, simply by checking the box next to them. This allows you to overlay as little or as much data as you want over other data.

o2sweeps.jpg


Datalogexample.jpg


Quartermilerun.jpg
 






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