Ring Gear Bolts

[jwebb]

Out for a drive, shift into 2nd and bang/clunk from rear end! No noise when coasting but in gear constant clunking. Pulled the diff cover and found 3 missing ring gear bolts; (1) loose, (1) broke in half loose and (1) lodged between the ring gear and carrier. Was able to remove the stuck one, flushed the gears repeatedly to remove any remnants. Gears now turn smoothly with no hesitation, was leaning towards replacing all the ring gear bolts with new and reassembling in lieu of replacing ring & pinion, thoughts?


171755171756171757

[rich grsc]

Right :rolleyes: driving it with the destroyed ring gear, no problem. Sorry, no, replace the gear set.

[BRRT]

Put in new bolts, fill with lube and drive it.
If it's noisy replace the gear set. All you are out is the cost of bolts and gear oil.

My opinion.

-----------------------

Jeff

[Jacob McCrea]

I'd give it a try; at this point you don't have much to lose. I think you would get away with replacing all the bolts if the differential is otherwise in spec - which I would not take as a given since it looks like a real dingbat assembled the thing in light of what happened. I'd also install ARP or Trick Flow studs in place of the main cap bolts, which are not something I would reuse. The Ford 8.8 assembly manual is all the resource you need to do it right. It was posted here a little while ago.

[jwebb]

Right :rolleyes: driving it with the destroyed ring gear, no problem. Sorry, no, replace the gear set.

There is no visible damage to the ring gear or pinion, the bolt is what is all scared up..

[GoDadGo]

Put in new bolts, fill with lube and drive it.
If it's noisy replace the gear set. All you are out is the cost of bolts and gear oil.

My opinion.

-----------------------

Jeff

What the heck I'd go with Jeff; however, I add some BLUE Loctite to all of the bolts an see what happens....Also, check your pinion angle because this may have been cause by driveshaft vibrations.

DRIVESHAFT PHASING VIDEO:
https://youtu.be/Idk3BVDVHq4

Good Luck!

[jwebb]

What the heck I'd go with Jeff; however, I add some BLUE Loctite to all of the bolts an see what happens....Also, check your pinion angle because this may have been cause by driveshaft vibrations.

DRIVESHAFT PHASING VIDEO:
https://youtu.be/Idk3BVDVHq4

Good Luck!


Thanks for the info.... I'll advise the outcome!

[Windsor]

Drive pinion gear and ring gear are amazingly tough.

Flush it as much as you can, replace the missing/damaged bolts, re-do the others (because they're likely all done the same way), slap it together and drive it.

Might be a good idea to change the fluid after 100mi or so just to make sure you got all of the shavings out.

You do have a magnetic drain plug in there, yes?

[rich grsc]

There is no visible damage to the ring gear or pinion, the bolt is what is all scared up..
Sorry, that picture sure looked like it had hit the ring gear. If no damage to the gear then yes just install new bolts

[sread]

A word of caution - there is conflicting info around regarding the torque specs for the ring gear bolts. Some sources say to tighten to 8o - 85 ft lbs and others list 97 - 102 ft lbs. I have had the bolts come loose using the lower value. The 97-102 figure is directly from the Ford Racing ring and pinion installation sheet. I would buy the oem Ford bolts and torque to 100 ft lbs.

[CraigS]

I agree. OEM bolts, blue loctite, and 100#s. If it doesn't work out long term I don't think you lose at all. It's been too long to be 100% but I am pretty sure my gears did not come w/ bolts so you will need them anyway.