Time for a new rear axle, help me decide.

[TheLetterJ]

Crisis averted!

I realize I'm just talking to myself here, but the info may help someone in the future. The tone ring presses over the carrier itself (right against the ring gear) and is located by a ~1/2" tab on the I.D. of the tone ring set into a groove in the carrier. Makes no difference in gear setup whatsoever. The Detroit locker already has this groove at roughly centerline of the diff as pictured:



The tone ring must be pressed on before the ring gear is bolted on and the ring gear will sandwich it in place. I'm wondering if it is worth just ordering a new tone ring from Ford to save the hassle of swapping the old one over (and potential headache if it breaks in the process!)?

I called Moser about the new axle shafts and they seemed less than enthusiastic, so I continued my search. I'll generally pay more for good customer service but I was surprised to find that Dutchman had both better customer service AND a better price so it looks like I'll be using them.

[carringb]

My tone ring has been reused a couple times. I don't think they did anything special... just some light tapping with a hammer to get it off.

Also, NAPA does sell 35-spline shafts for our axles... I can't give you a P/N since I don't have full catalog access anymore, but I remember running across them when I was doing bearings on my van.

[BajaSportsmobile]

Tone rings come off and on easily - especially if you heat them with a torch, they grow in diameter and slide right on/off.

[TheLetterJ]

As much as I wanted to trust my internet research, I just couldn't so I pulled my axleshafts out today.

The Dana/Spicer part numbers are stamped on the end of the axles.

Driver's side (Dana/Spicer #43811-17) measured 37.64" from the inside of the flange to the end of the splines.

Passenger side (Dana/Spicer #43811-16) measured 34.92" from the inside of the flange to the end of the splines.

Bolt circle is 8 on 3.96" with 0.45" holes (7/16" bolts) and 4.72" O.D. flange.

I ordered those exact lengths/ flanges but with 1.5" diameter (stock spindle I.D. is 1.585") 35 spline axles from Dutchman Motorsports http://www.dutchmanaxles.com/flanged-fl ... -pair.html Cost was $305 + shipping for the 1541H material or $345 for 4140 (I ordered the 1541H) and they said they would ship out Monday or Tuesday.

Hopefully this saves someone a headache in the future.

[TheLetterJ]

New parts are all installed. I paid a reputable shop to do the work, dropped it off at 9:00, picked it up at 3:00. I would have probably taken 3 days to get it done in my driveway so I figured I'd save myself the headache and the downtime. The shop had really encouraged me to go with Spicer gears but I went with Richmond for no other reason than cost (~$200 less) while still being an American manufacturer. Sure enough, there is a little high pitched whine at freeway speeds and a slight growl at low speeds. My wife does not notice it AT ALL, I guess I'm just being picky. I've set up axles with a perfect pattern and still had noise when using no-name gears, so I'm not worried that they were installed improperly.

Next thing to address is my speedometer. Sure the van accelerates faster, but there is no way I was doing 80mph while still on the on-ramp! My van is a '98 and has a 4r100 (or is it an E4OD, I'm not sure how to tell the difference since they use the same pan?) How do I go about correcting my speedo? Is it gear driven or does it use VSS on the tranny? It is ~13% too fast.