I'm going to be doing the gears on my 04 xlt 2wd .I have a 355ls ratio and I am looking into the 411 yukon gears for the replacements.I'm looking for any technical information from ford like service manual with specs and overview just so I get a better Idea what I'm diving into.I'm a 10 year deisel mechanic have all the tools/pullers/presses just looking for some more detailed information on the 8.8 inch rear.Any help would be appreciated .

 

You'll need a pinion depth gauge set to determine what shims to use for pinion depth. Go for the tighter end of tolerance to try to minimize any tip in whine. Backlash ideally should be .008-.012, spec for pinion bearing preload is 16-29 in/lbs.

 

Ok this tool is a must have or makes the job alot easier? Will a pair of setup bearings work ? BTW thanks for the quick specs .Are Yukon gears a good name ?

 

I've never done them any other way than using the pinion depth gauge, so I've no idea.

Yukon seems to be pretty popular around the boards though.

 

DOn't Forget about the Gear that goes in the tranny for your speedometer. I put 410's in my truck. And was about 15-20 miles off, at high speeds.
https://www.f150online.com/galleries....cfm?gnum=6980

 

I could be wrong but the newer trucks don't have speedo gears.Most of the newer stuff I see use sensors and are calibrated through the ECM.

 

i installed motive gears in my truck with 8.8's and didn't need any shims at all. it would probably work to just make sure the pinion depth is the same as the old one or some set up bearings will work too. it's unecessary to try and centre the pinion on the ring gear. as long as the pinion makes a full pattern between the inside and outside of the ring gear teeth you'll be fine.

when i first installed mine in my truck i had no problems at all and the gears didn't make a sound at any speed. my rear diff carrier did break on christmas and i installed an auburn posi unit and re-used the ring and pinion and it howls now due to damaged teeth.

 

Didn't need any shims as in the shims that were in place were still just right after the install ? Or you didn't use any shims? If the pinion depth is set to the original and the ring gear is mounted exactly as the original and backlash is perfect then you lucked out.I've heard the setting up can be a pain in some cases.BTW how did you bust your carrier?

 

https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=222881

i'm not sure exactly what caused it to break like that. i think it was mainly torque stress from the way i drive and the kind of off-roading i had been doing before that happened. it was also a high mileage carrier from a 93 f150 2wd. it was free and it seemed like it would work at the time.
the original parts in my diff had no shims and i installed the 4.56's without any shims. it worked great until a few weeks ago.