Hey, guys, Stephanie with AmericanMuscle.com here with these Ford Racing 3.73 gears for
all Mustangs with an 8.8 rear or '86-'14 V8 and 2011-2014 V6 Mustangs. Gearing's really
important to a car, and it can make or break a build no matter how much power you may or
may not have. Gears should be carefully chosen based off your intentions and the performance
that you want out of your car. These 3.73 gears from Ford Racing are gonna be a good
option for those of you out there that aren't wanting to spend a ton of money, but that
are looking for a good gear that will perform well for a daily driver and for the car that
might see the track occasionally. I would say that the 3.73 gear is a middle of the
road option. It's short enough to provide a huge difference in driveability, but not
so short that it'll create a negative impact on street driving.
When you go about choosing your rear gear, you'll have to keep in mind where and how
you mostly drive your car. You do a lot of highway driving, you aren't going to want
a short gear, and if you're looking for acceleration improvements from a stop, you aren't going
to want a tall gear, either. A 3.73 gives you a little bit of both worlds here. You'll
get a cruise on the highway without screaming in those higher RPMs, but you're really going
to notice a big change in acceleration as well and that's what makes these good for
a daily driver.
If you're coming off of stock gearing and you're moving into a 3.73, you're going to
think that you're driving a totally different car because the gears are gonna totally change
the driving experience. Even if you have some bolt-on mods already, your car probably still
feels sluggish but it won't after the gears are installed. If we break this down some,
the basic way that rear gears work can be boiled down to saying that the number of the
gear is how many times the drive shaft will turn to one turn of the rear wheels. So in
this case, the drive shaft will turn 3.73 times for every one turn of the rear wheels,
and this is how such drastic changes in the driving experience are made. Typically speaking,
low gears give higher top speeds and better fuel economy, but the tradeoff there is a
car that's slower off the line with less torque. High gears, on the other hand, are the exact
opposite and the 3.73s hear fall in the middle, and they're a great all-purpose type of gear.
A set of gears includes a ring and pinion gear and Ford Racing gears a forged gear that
are CNC cut with lapped gear teeth. These also have a black oxide finish, so that'll
help resist corrosion, and in case you happen to be worried about it, these are not a noisy
gear so don't expect a lot of whine with these. Upgrading rear gears will throw off the calibration
of your speedo no matter which brand you end up choosing. It's just a side effect of choosing
the ratio, but Ford Racing does make a recalibration tool to fix this issue, so just keep that
in the back of your mind. Or the issue can be fixed with a tuner, as well, but if you
don't happen to already have a tuning device, then the recalibration tool is going to be
a less expensive way to fix it.
As far as price, these gears are going to be the least expensive that are available
on the site, costing under $150. There are some other brands to choose from but they're
gonna be more expensive, and I did want to mention that you should also pick up a gear
install kit while you're purchasing these. The price of this kit is going to change depending
on if you want just the install kit or an install and bearing kit, but you're looking
at an additional 30-75 bucks for either one of these. And depending on the mileage and
the last service, it could also be a really good idea to invest in entirely rebuilding
the rear while it's apart, but that's up to you.
So I'm not gonna say that the install here is easy because it's not. You're looking at
taking the car to a shop for a proper install or having a nice collection of tools since
you will need a handful of items and about four hours to get the job done yourself. This
is a three out of three wrenches on the difficulty meter. This is a pretty big project that's
going to require removing the axles, which means dropping the driveshaft, the rear brakes,
the diff pinion shaft, and the axle shaft U-washer, and you've got to remove the differential
itself, which means removing the diff bearing cap bolts and the shims, which all needs to
be marked and reinstalled the same way.
The assembly and install of the new gears is very specific, and I'm obviously giving
you guys a general overview here, so I'll just mention that you'll need to check for
diff case run out as well as check pinion depth and do some shimming, as well. Then
you've got to get it all back together after measuring and checking your work over.
Wrapping things up here, the Ford Racing 3.73 Gears for the 8.8 rears are a great gear for
cars that see a lot of street time and some track time. They're a middle of the road gear
that offers the best of both worlds when we look at the benefits of a tall gear versus
short gear, and they're the most affordable gear set on the site. They are CNC cut and
they have lapped teeth, and you can check them out more online right here at AmericanMuscle.com.