$1500 down the dumper - Any Suggestions? ANYBODY?

[danecorn]

Howdy y'all (Bama born and raised).

My first post here. I am an OLD hotrodder (25 years past), roddless for the last 20. Last June, my 21 yr old son convinced me it was time to buy a decent vehicle, after driving **junkers** for the past 18 years. Found a pristine 2002, 6 cyl. (232 c.i. - told you I was old-school) automatic-trans Mustang convertible, and fell head over heels for this machine. 3 weeks into this love affair, I got T-boned in the driver side by a dumb-ass running 60mph through a red light, in a 25mph zone. I was HEARTBROKEN (but through the grace of God, glad to be breathing). 4 1/2 weeks later my lady was returned, almost *as good as new*.

So much for the background info. Here is my current predicament. After overloading the car with 1000+ lbs of passengers (not including myself) the evening before, I climbed in to the car to find I had broken a tooth-or-two off the ring gear in the rear end. The factory rear end was a peg-leg, so I spent close to 1500 dollars to repair it (i.e. Stupid,Stupid,Stupid), replacing with a real differential, ring and pinion (4.10), and bearings (all NEW components). I then installed MAC CAI, and purchased Diablo Predator to adjust shift points, and correct the speedometer readings. I was quite impressed by the performance improvements. BUT THEN...

This high-dollar rear end lasted 6 weeks, before the spider gears disintegrated. WHAT THE HELL ?. The shop that installed the gears, says the 6 cyl. rear end can't take the *extreme* HP (200-225) the engine develops, and says they are not responsible for Ford's pitifully lacking design of these differentials. They say I "Shocked" the gears. (I feel like I'm the one that got SHOCKED!)

Again, I am almost 50 years old, and not nearly as ignorant as when I was a young man. No high-rev dumps from standing starts, or anything of that nature, only pedal-to-the-metal-shifts (traction control off, of course). I have put Chevy 10-bolt rear ends through SIGNIFIGANTLY more abuse, and was running more than 500HP the last time I shredded one.

Local junkyards want $1200 for a 8.8 GT rear end, which seems a bit over the top pricewise (This will push my repair costs to a total of over $2700 (gasp) Surely, I could have purchased one helluva rear end for this kind of cash. Has anyone else been plagued by this, and are Ford rear ends REALLY THAT PATHETIC ???

Thanks in advance for any light you may shed on this problem, or remedies you might suggest. Please feel free to email me at wwwemailsux@hotmail.com