I'm a seasoned DIY shade tree mechanic and never shy away from working on my own cars but rebuilding my 8.8 rear has always been intimidating to me. I watched this video several times along with reading the Ford Racing documentation and I just successfully completed it. I did a complete removal,clean up, POR-15 & black topcoat and it looks beautiful! Upgraded to 373s, carbon fiber clutch pack and replaced all bearings and seals. Your videos gave me the confidence to take it on. Thank you!

7 years later and still a valuable resource. Thanks!

I appreciate you showing the difficulty involved in adjusting everything, sometimes it seems everyone else just figures stuff out really easy and its nice to see someone else go through the same problems as myself. Really good stuff, thank you for making this video series!

I just learned a lot with this vid .... Which is if I ever need a rear end built to take it to the shop lol

There are quite a few diff rebuilding videos out there, but this is by far one of the best. It is explained in a clear concise manner describing, not just how and why things are done , but highlighting the exact issues that everyone will face when attempting this job. Excellent video.

"what do we do?"

Eric, for future reference (seeing as you're a ford/foxbody guy) what you can do for the setup procedure to speed things up is to take a dial caliper and measure the thickness of the original pinion head with the original pinion shim on it. Then measure the new pinion and add shims to equal the thickness of the original setup. (If sticking with the original bearing brand) this will in most cases get you almost spot on for pinion depth if not spot on you're damn close! It took me about 10 ford 8.8's to realize this little known trick. Also as stated before you can do initial setup without the crush sleeve and only use it for final assembly! I've been in your shoes pal! Love the vids, I'm sure you've helped a ton of guys out. Your t5 vids helped me out ten fold!!!

Eric, I use shims often in my workplace to align electric motors to pumps. I also found it difficult to measure stacks of shims, because the measurement varies. A good solution I found is to press the stack of shims together with some pliers (with quite a bit of pressure) and while doing this, measure as close to the pliers as possible. The shims must also be completely free of oil. Only that way I am able to get reasonably repeatable measurements of shim stacks.

Great videos on this 8.8 rebuild! Probably the best I've seen. The other guys don't show all the trial and error. There's a lot to be learned by the error!

Eric, you are very patient. I would have had to walk away a few times on this one. They make this stuff look so easy on TV. This is a good video because it shows what this can really be like.

I have no intention of replacing rear gears(especially after watching this) but this is a great bearing tutorial. Thanks for enduring all the pain. Imagine doing this on jacks in your old garage :-).

This is a real video with out removed clips! I did rear end 3 times and still can’t get it right. What a pain in the ass. Great job brother

So far been watching every minute on this rebuild and setup. It's great you are showing the oops' and all the headaches that come with it. It shows how it is in real life and not some slick 15 minute video that makes it look easy. Subscribed!

What an emotional rollercoaster! That is the kind of perseverance that gets the job done! Thank you, Eric!

You have the patience of a saint, I was losing my mind watching you have to adjust them over and over! Congratulations though and another great video from you both.

Most honest gearing video I’ve seen. Thanks for the honesty.

By watching the awful experience Eric has had putting this diff together has changed my mind about rebuilding my 8.8 due to some howl... until it blows I'll live with it and just remind myself of this series when I'm annoyed by the noise.

Great video Eric! Love the fact you showed the good as well as ALL the frustration. I had to subscribe for this reason. It's nice to see someone not just cut and edit in the good stuff where everything just falls right into place. It's nice to see problem solving. Well done!

you're a patient man Eric , great job .

Absolutely fantastic videos! I know this drove you to the point of insanity but watching you figure out all these problems makes me more confident about doing a gear swap on my f-150. Thanks again!