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Differential Surprise

9

95Mike

CEG'er
Joined
Feb 28, 2001
Messages
168
Location
Baka Laka Daka Street
Hey guys, I just thought I'd share a couple pics of my differential. I have my 3l engine done and have been tossing around a new diff for a couple weeks now since I already have the mtx out. I'm happy to report that I decided it is a must have and cracked the bell housing off yesterday (well, I didn't actually "crack" it). Take a look at what I found. My car has 85k on it, and I've owned it since 50k. I've never once done a burnout and I don't slam gears. It does see upper rpms, but I have never done anything hard on the mtx. Of course I don't know about the first 50k miles.

Here is some material collected on the bottom. I wonder where it came from?
DSCN4708.jpg


Oh, there's where it came from! It's all my differential teeth crumbling away.
DSCN4709.jpg


Lesson learned: Always check everything while you have the engine/mtx out of the car and replace those stock diffs if you can.
 
and that is exactly why im not taking my SVT with 86K miles (77K when i bought it) to SZ and putting it around the track. WTH was ford thinking when they built these diffs?

IF i have to pull the trans at some point it will be getting either a torsen/quafe or at the very least a stock pre98 diff. since they dont have these problems. the one i pulled from my 97 zetec has 241K miles on it and it looks perfect.
 
Terry Haines said before that the Pre-98 diff (which was stronger) stopped for 97 but I'm really starting to question that. Almost everyone that reports bad diffs has at least a 98.5 or higher. It seems like there are very few 98's.

I beat the piss out of my diff before I knew about them being the weak point in the tranny and before my LSD upgrade. When I removed it, it looked brand new. Not one sign that it was worn. I ended up reselling it actually for about $150.
 
yeah i wouldnt doubt if a lot of the 98s (at least the early ones) actually got the pre98 diff. since they also got the pre98 4 bolt LCAs as well.
 
Good god :eek: I hope my '95 diff doesn't look like those first ones shown. Holy crap guys - those look like they are made of butter :nonono:
 
Good god, I had my stock diff in there for 125k miles and it still is in perfect shape and sits in my garage.
 
CSVT1214 said:
I beat the piss out of my diff before I knew about them being the weak point in the tranny and before my LSD upgrade. When I removed it, it looked brand new. Not one sign that it was worn. I ended up reselling it actually for about $150.
Click to expand...

Speaking of the LSD, how much of a pain is it to install? And I assume you guys dont recommend the Phantom Grip.
 
I think it depends on the transmission and diff. I personally know several Honda owners who swear by them but in my mazda owners group not a single person had good luck.
 
CSVT1214 said:
Terry Haines said before that the Pre-98 diff (which was stronger) stopped for 97 but I'm really starting to question that. Almost everyone that reports bad diffs has at least a 98.5 or higher. It seems like there are very few 98's.

I beat the piss out of my diff before I knew about them being the weak point in the tranny and before my LSD upgrade. When I removed it, it looked brand new. Not one sign that it was worn. I ended up reselling it actually for about $150.
Click to expand...

Terry talks out of his ass a whole hell of a lot. He has a lot of theories, but never clarifies that they are in fact just that. It might not even have a distinct cut off date. My early 99 was a :censored::censored::censored::censored:ing dealer test car, the prior owner drove it, and I drove the :censored::censored::censored::censored:ing pants off it. Pulled the diff out and there was only one tooth with only minor spalling on it.
 
I have 115k on my 98 SVT and its not having problems. I have a feeling if it was as weak as they say I would've blown it up several times by now.
 
My 00 SVT had some moderate spalling on the spider gears when I pulled the trans at 92k miles.
 
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