Fillet-o-Pinion Bearings 98 Mustang GT

Well my wife's 98 Mustang GT convertible started making a slight 'grinding' noise (best I can describe it) from the rear axle. I have been around long enough to know that this was not a good noise and took it down to the mechanic for a diagnosis ASAP.

The local Ford dealer tore down the rear end and discovered "fillet of pinion bearings". Plenty of oil in the rear axle, and it never leaked a drop. Luckily we caught it early and the damage was confined to the pinion bearings, but we may replace the axle bearings if they look even slightly questionable. (Thoughts of metal fragments working themselves around in the rear end are not particularly happy thoughts)

All this at 23,000 miles!

I have not seen the old parts yet, but after talking to the mechanic and hearing that he has seen more than a few Ford 8.8" rear ends exhibit this problem, I wondered if this has been discussed in this forum before.

Needless to say her GT is out of warranty, so (jokingly.....

I guess I am "getting my wife a new rear-end for Christmas!" (giggle)

But seriously, this is the 3rd mustang with a 8.8" rear end we have owned -- a 96 GT, a 98 cobra convertible and now the 98 GT, all purchased new, maintained well and never 'abused'. In fact her 98 GT has been treated so gently I have to believe that there was a rear end problem right from the start, or else it died from too much love.

So,

Anyone have comments on this?

Did Ford perhaps have a problem with rear end bearings or rear end assembly in 98? I didn't see any TSB's when I searched.

Does anyone know if the current Ford replacement pinion bearing parts are 'beefed up' in any way from the stock?

Steve

Reply to
steve
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I have a 98 Mustang GT (coupe, not a vert.)... I had a slight noise from the rear differential so I changed the lubricant in it & added the friction modifier... the noise worked itself out after a day or 2. Haven't had any problem since then... car has about 89,300 miles on the odo. 23k miles & it's a 5 year old car? Pretty impressive.. not driven often I see. Not sure if Ford has any beefed up parts.. while you're doing some rear end work maybe you should consider some gears ;D... well heck I dunno.. you say you never abuse it so I take it you never drive it hard enough to have any fun w/ the gears.. but that was a funny joke about a new rear-end for yer wife ;D.

-Mike

Reply to
<memset

I thought that for somewhere around $700 in repairs, I should take any opportunity I can to get a laugh.

Oh I flogged my 98 cobra plenty! The only 'abuse' I can think of was getting the poor thing airborne when discovering a dip in the road too late at the top end of 2nd gear. Thankfully I didn't bottom out, but I did get a bit of a 'bounce' out of it.

Oh yes, the wife was sitting next to me when it happened -- I just looked over at her and said "Yea, that was abuse."

Sold it to help us get into a new house and put a kid through school, but I still miss it.

The 03' and 04' cobras just dont have the lines of the 98 but if Santa put one in the garage I could manage to drive it ;) I really want to see what the 05' is going to look like. I hope they 'fix' the door handles. I just dont like the way they stick out.

Steve

snipped-for-privacy@recorddeal.com wrote:

Reply to
steve

the '98 Cobra I had kill one pinion seal and was working on a second when I traded her in. It was a daily driver with some abuse.

Reply to
Scott Van Nest

The pinon seal on my '97 GT needed to be replaced, but the relief valve had got gunked up in the winter... Now the mav is going to need a pinon seal soon.

Reply to
Brent P

I must say that I'm a bigger fan of the 94-98 body style (4th generation? correct me if I'm wrong please anybody) than the 99-04 body style. With a bit of money one could pretty easily get a 98 Cobra up there with 03-04 Cobra torque/HP ratings.

So had a little fun ramping eh? I'd call that abuse as well... YOU DO NOT DESERVE THAT CAR@!# j/k sucks that you had to sell it though... I'd miss the hell outta it.. heck I'd even miss my GT now if I sold it. Anyway... good luck w/ everything :).

-Mike

Reply to
<memset

I could get my '97 Cobra up to the '03 ratings... but the internals of the '03 are much stronger and you can tweak the '03's to much higher numbers for a lot less money.

It's still a dream though. Maybe an '03 drivetrain in a '97 would be ok. ;-)

JS

Reply to
JS

My friend's 03 Cobra (black, 10th anniv. edition black/red interior) has a

15psi pulley, flowmaster mufflers, chip (for the pulley), and BBK cold air intake. He went to Springdale to get it on a dyno to measure the HP & torque.. I forgot what the torque was.. gah.. but HP was 493, iirc.

-Mike

generation?

Reply to
<memset

Steve, when do you hear the noise most? I'm having a noise in my '96 and it seems to be coming from the rear. Nobody can seem to tell me what it is.

Cindy

Reply to
Cindy

The noise was a slight grinding noise that varied at a rate proportional to the speed of the rear wheel rotation. The car is a convertible, which made rear-end noises easier to hear when going down the road.

In other words, it wasn't a constant noise, but 'warbled' slightly. It was not a 'whine' which would probably indicate a gear issue, but a 'slight grinding' which indicated a bearing issue.

If the noise you are hearing is not real bad, but is pretty constant and seems to be tied to rear wheel rotation, you might want to consider changing out the rear end lubricant (and adding the modifier agent to the oil if you have a traction-lock rear end). Give this a while and see if it helps. I just inspected the pinion bearings that came out of the rear end and so far I cant seem to find any serious bearing problems -- I will take the parts to a good friend who is much more of a mechanic than I am and see if he can find a problem with em.

steve

C> Steve, when do you hear the noise most? I'm having a noise in my '96 and it

Reply to
steve

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