I am thinking about swapping the gears in my GT and I need to find a reputable shop in the DFW area to do the work. I would like for the dealer to do it but they are ridiculous on their pricing. Five Star wants $750 plus parts, CRAZY!!!

I would prefer a shop in the HEB or Fort Worth area but as long as they do great work I would go outside that area.

Thank You,
Bob

 

http://www.gearheadsperformance.com

 

Thank you, I called them today.

 

I would love to hear about your experience with them. I plan on getting gears in the summer.

 

I have heard good stuff about Gearheads on DFWStangs so you should be okay. What are you putting in there?

 

I want to swap the 3.31s for 3.55s. It is my daily driver so I don't want anything lower. I did the swap in my 94 and I could really tell the difference.

 

Cool. That should be nice then since I see in your sig that you have an auto.

 

I figured with the auto it would help a bit, the 373's would be too much for a daily driver but would be alot of fun.

I have to take the car to the dealership first and get them to do the rearend TSB, then I can get gears. It may be a month before it happens.

 

I went by Gearheads in Arlington and talked with Travis about getting a set of 4.10's installed in my 2005 Mustang GT. They have a nice looking shop and were running a nice sounding SN95 GT on the dyno after having made some mods to the car.

Their website (www.gearheadsperformance.com) states that they'll install a set of Ford Racing Gears with Royal Purple gear lube for $299.95 with additional charges for crush sleeve, pinion nut, any needed bearings, etc. Travis told me that Ford no longer makes their own gears...that Motive makes them for Ford. I started getting the feeling that they were going to install Motives instead of the FRPP gears their website lists (maybe it was the Motive Gear boxes laying around that clued me). Travis also cautioned me that I might hear some gear noise, especially when coasting. I decided to do a little checking before I committed to having them do the work since this wasn't exactly what I had been expecting.

I checked with the Ford Tech hotline and found out that Motive does indeed make some of Ford's gears, but not all of them. If the last letter of the FRPP stock number is an "M" then its made by Motive, if it's an "A" then it's still made by Ford. The Ford made gears are a little more expensive, but I've always heard people say they are well made and usually run quietly. I really wanted Ford made gears, so I decided to do the gear swap myself.

I started ordering what I needed (got the M-4209-G410A gears with crush sleeve and pinion nut from Summit for $216) and during that gathering process I wanted to get three quarts of Royal Purple Gear Max lube. Owners manual says my car requires 75W140 weight gear lube. I checked the Royal Purple website to be sure that they made that weight...found it listed there. I called Gearheads and talked with Travis once again...told him I was looking for some Royal Purple Gear Max 75W140. Travis told me that he didn't think Royal Purple made that weight, that they used the Royal Purple Gear Max 75W90 weight. I wonder how many 8.8 rearends they've filled with the lighter 75W90 weight instead of the 75W140 called for by my owners manual. I also wonder if that thinner lube might be causing some of that gear noise he was warning me about. I was able to find the Royal Purple Max Gear 75W140 at Pep Boys.

The purpose of my post is not to flame Travis or Gearheads, but to make anyone aware that they need to check out exactly what they're getting for their money. I haven't done my gears yet (waiting on a few more parts and a couple of warm days to get that done), but I at least know that I'll have genuine Ford made FRPP 4.10s and the correct weight of gear lube in my differential.

Just for laughs I'll tell you that I had called Summit before I called Ford Tech and had asked the Summit guys the difference between the FRPP 4.10 "A" set and the FRPP 4.10 "M" set (they sell them both). He checked with someone else and than came back to the phone and told me that the "A" set was for an "Automatic" and the "M" set was for a "Manual".

I almost fell out of my chair laughing. The Ford Tech that I called later and his co-workers were all busting a gut when I passed along this bit of "expert" advise. Let the buyer beware.

 

4209-G410-A's and 75w140 are standard practice in the Mustang world. I install, and set up the rear with Royal Purple gear oil for $375 out the door. The package price for gears and install kit and installation is $599.99. We use the Royal Purple because it is GL4 and GL5 plus it already has the limited slip additive. I love the stuff!

CR
Tillman Speed