Changing the rear end

[Future AIrman]

Hi all,

I was wondering the difficulty involved in replacing the rear end. I recently purchaged a GT with parts and the current rear end, as it was explained to me, was built for racing. It causes the engine to run at higher RPM's in order to increase acceleration. I am not interested in this as not only does it whine it lowers my fuel milage. I have the stock rear end and the service manual. I have done some work to the car already, mostly electrical. Should I tackle the project or find someone else to do it for me?

[namba209]

Changing out the whole rear end assembly is fairly easy, too easy in fact, well at least for me, I've had mine in and out so many times. First and foremost, you need a good set of jack stands and a floor jack, and some blocks of wood to place front and rear of the front tires to keep the car from moving while it's on the jack stands. If your replacement rear end is suspect, clean and replace everthing while it's out of the car. When you get ready to remove the old one look at what needs to be disconncted from the assembly and take it out, it's pretty straight forward, the emergency brake cable and u-joints will probably take the most time to get it out. Also this would be good time for new poly bushings and maybe the torque tube donut and the support bushings there too. Any other questions and answers will come flooding out from members who have been there done that, and there's a bunch.

[jlthunder]

Don't forget to disconnect the brake line ande-brake cable. Replace the flexible brake line, wheel cylinders, and brake pads while you have it out. I'd change the pinion seal too.

[Future AIrman]

I will be picking up the replacement rear end today from storage so I will know more about it then. Thanks alot for the answers. I may have other questions as the process goes along but we shall see.

[jeff denton]

If you end up with unwanted high performance parts, please let everybody know, lots of us need them! Thanks