Noise coming from the rear

[Back-N-Black]

I am getting a noise that I only can describe as brakes dragging, from the rear of the car. Been getting louder. Before tearing the car apart I have checked for play at the wheels/hub area. Nothing really noticeable there. The car has 17,000 miles and did a lot of sitting, apparently, until I got it. It had the weeping when I bought it and drips a drop or so a day. Has gotten louder since my track day last week.

I have took the brakes off to see if I could hear anything, thought it was a little loud, at the hubs, when idling in first on the jack stands but the car is kind of loud so not easy to tell. So I removed the hubs/knuckles assy and axles, I cannot feel any play in the knuckle bearing and it doesn't spin loosely or wobble/grind or anything.

I bought bearings and a new cover and gasket for the diff but am waiting to install them, I am thinking that my problem may be elsewhere though.

Should I drop the whole IRS and have a professional inspect the diff or is there other things that I can do myself at this point?

If I drop the IRS what things should I do while it's out? e.g. replace the fuel filter. FYI, this is a DD that will see a couple track days a year.

There is only one mustang shop in my area, that I know of, so would also like to know if anybody had recommendations for other professionals in the Melbourne/Orlando Florida area, where I could bring the IRS in to.

 

[Back-N-Black]

No replies, oh well. Maybe someone else in the future will get some use out of this thread.

I received a few suggestions for shops but not any close to me here on the Spacecoast so here is where I am.

I removed the rear wheel hubs and upon inspection, they did not spin freely and no grinding or noise, by me and TrickPro, we decided that they were not a problem.

I finally decided on getting my work done at TrickPro in Melbourne. See the links below for some pics of the bad parts. I had removed the IRS complete and gave them only the diff to rebuild. I had everything (bearings,seals,clutch pack, everything except the gears), in the diff replaced. They installed my LPW rear cover too.

I was looking for a dependable Ford shop, that I was confident in, that knew this IRS. I checked Palm Bay and Paradise Ford dealerships. Paradise, which as it turns out, gave me the best price. I did not know that, at the time, as after I had given the job to TrickPro I discovered that our definitions of full diff rebuild were not the same.

What did I learn?
- First be very precise in description of work when getting estimates.

- The kit I bought for the rebuild did not include the "IRS Axle bearing and seal kit #M-4413-A". So for future reference the "Ratech 305K" kit is NOT complete for a complete IRS rebuild.

- Also needed the 8.8 IRS Traction-Lok kit FRPP M-4700-B.

- I am for some reason missing one of the "differential bearings" from my replaced parts box, seems TrickPro kept it for use when pressing out another bearing, or something like that. They said it was not damaged when they pulled it. From looking at the Ford Tech manual parts list I believe this is the name for the bearing that was causing my issues. See the pics of the bad differential bearing and cup to see how severe the damage was.
Only one bearing was damaged but unbelievable how severe. Glad I caught it before it caused more damage.

The two pics of the bearing cap is for the same cup.

I have not put the car back together yet so don't know if we did all this correctly yet. Stay tuned.

 

[Tractionless1]

Did you have them install a soild pinion spacer with the correct end play as well or just go with the crush sleeve? I'm in the same boat as you but didn't have a noise. I went with a Detroit TruTrac as the stock diffs. wear and have to be replaced. I don't want to ever have to go back inside for maintenance. How about Mark Williams bearing caps? I did those as well seeing a bunch of pics online of broken stockers, the next weak link after the axles. I wound up sending all my parts and a used IRS Housing to ILL to get built. I'm in PSL and never heard of Trickpro hope they know the ins and outs of the 8.8 IRS.

 

[Back-N-Black]

Argh, I forgot to do the solid pinion spacer. Another guy I know recommended I do that and I forgot to take care of it, so they just installed the crush sleeve that was in the Ratech kit.

TrickPro suggested the Detroit TruTrac but it is fairly expensive so I passed on that. This is the first I've heard of the bearing caps issues, I don't drag race at all so hopefully I will be ok for the occasional Auto-X and Track Day.

Since having this done I think I have found another possible diff expert here on SVTP. Check out this thread

http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/driveline-216/571147-03-irs-speed-sensitive-clunking.html

03SVTCOBRA10TH is in the south east, not sure if that is florida or not. He has done many of these rebuilds and the price is good.