emperorjordan

Well, as some of you know, I took the plunge and installed Motive 4.30 gears myself on Friday, the 13th. A friend who is a mechanic helped me, and without him I would have been lost. I wanted to take pix and do a whole write up, but I decided that this is too complicated, and if you dont already know how to do it, you shouldnt attempt it. There is a reason shops charge so much for this.

Also, I would like to note that I bought the Motive Install kit too, and the shims that came with it do not work very well. There is nothing to prevent them from "walking" as you drive the car. The factory shims are one piece, but Motive's are several small ones you pile up to get the right thickness. This got us worried so we called Coast Driveline in Ventura, CA, and they were VERY helpful, and becuase I drove almost 2 hours to get it, they gave us a shim kit that they make that had a shoulder to hold all the shims in place. Also, their thinnest was half as thin as Motives, and we ended up needing it. So, I do not recommend the Motive Gear Install kit. Also, I suggest you get at least one new bearing, becuase it is a female dog to get off the pinion, and we wasted mine trying to get it off and had to run out and get a new one.

The install took about 12 hours total not including breaks or store runs. We did it in the driveway on jackstands and had a custom holding bar made that is about 6 inches longer than the FORD tool so we could do it under the car.

Everything went pretty smoothly, except with out a lift it is impossible to torque the pinion bolt, so we cheated with the impact gun, and got lucky with the preload. The pinion needed no shims, it lined up perfectly.

We ended up with .009" of backlash, and the Motive gear is machined VERY nicely, with almost NO variation in the backlash around the grear.

Thats all of the more notable stuff off the top of my head.....

In the end, the gears are quiet, but there is a little bit of whine on the coast side at about 45 mph, but it is very slight and goes away at higher or lower speeds. I love the 4.30s and am very glad I didnt get the 4.10s. They are not too low, and are fine for a daily driver. But they make a HUGE difference and were worth every penny, and even if I had to pay several hundred to get them installed I think I would have done it, becuase still they would be worth it.

I do NOT recommend doing this at home, unless you have done it before. And torqueing stuff is a real female dog with out a lift.

So if anybody wants to attempt this or has any questions, please feel free to post here or email me or PM me and I will help you the best I can.

Thanks to those that helped me!

don_w

Congrats!!! And you're right, I wouldn't do it myself. So far, I've done everything else myself, but I wouldn't touch the gears.

ZGarske01

im with don on this one

stkdidy

emperor jordan-
GREAT to see others taking the plunge with 4.30s. they really are quite practical if you don't mind shifting a LITTLE bit sooner...its really not that much different drive.

...

...until you floor it, then it just freakin lights them up and takes off like a bat out of heck.


sry to hear the install was so difficult on you. next time reconsider paying someone 250 to install it for you

JLH

I installed my 4.10's myself. I had done many 9" in the past, ratio's from 3.00 to 6.50 but never an 8.8.

I had the rear end out of the car when I did them so it was easier to work on. Didn't take it out just for the gears. Wanted to paint it better, put on LCA relocation brackets (fabricated myself), clean & paint driveshaft etc.

I know what you mean about the shims. I took my factory gears out before I ordered new. I saw the kits had shim packs and this was not what I wanted to use. I got the two solid shims I needed from Ford. I have a friend that works at the local dealership and I borrowed the shim packs that he uses to get the gears set up to determine the necessary thickness of the solid shims needed.

I have motive gears and the do not make any noise.

You are right tho, If you do not have experience with working on differential gears it is a job better left to an experienced shop.

The gear change really woke the car up and I am glad I did it.

JLH

cop on my back

Don't do it yourself at home.......I could have told you that before you started. Get gears done at a shop, it is worth it. Plus, if there ends up being a problem, you can get it fixed under waranty and not have to try again on your own.

I will rebuild engines, do suspension work, you name it, but I won't do rear end gears.


Good on ya for taking it on your own though, I will give you that

emperorjordan

I dont regret doing it on my own.... I knew it was going to be a pain, but I want to learn, and you gotta start somewhere.

And after driving it around more now, I cant say enough how much I love the gears. and my dad drove the car, just normal driving and he didnt notice the difference..... so they really dont have much downside to them. I wish I could still hit 60 in 2nd gear, but i can hit about 58 and thats close enough. They really really pull hard, and combined with the BamaChips tune, its like a new car.