Ford Performance Ring and Pinion Gear Kit; 3.73 Gear Ratio (05-09 Mustang GT)

Video Review & Installation

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.