2000 P71...need advice on rear end

[fireguy1717]

Hello everyone!

I am new here and need some advice on what to do with my P71. The back story:

Had a rear wheel seal go bad about 4 weeks ago and had a mechanic fix it. Then, 2 days ago, I was pulling into my community when I lost all acceleration. When the wrecker came to load it up to take to ford he told me to look at the axle. The passenger rear wheel almost snapped off. Now Ford says that I need a rear end because the axle is broken and the gears are locked up. The car has 200,000 miles on it and doesn't owe me anything....but I dont want to pay $1,355 for Ford to fix it.


I need some help with finding a used rear end. Im not really mechanically inclined and I'm not sure what year/gear ratio that I need.

Any help would be great.

[lowboy654]

Try this. [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
I had mine rebuilt a 3.55 locker cost me 1700.00

[Bigvin]

Hello everyone!

I am new here and need some advice on what to do with my P71. The back story:

Had a rear wheel seal go bad about 4 weeks ago and had a mechanic fix it. Then, 2 days ago, I was pulling into my community when I lost all acceleration. When the wrecker came to load it up to take to ford he told me to look at the axle. The passenger rear wheel almost snapped off. Now Ford says that I need a rear end because the axle is broken and the gears are locked up. The car has 200,000 miles on it and doesn't owe me anything....but I dont want to pay $1,355 for Ford to fix it.


I need some help with finding a used rear end. Im not really mechanically inclined and I'm not sure what year/gear ratio that I need.

Any help would be great.

Dont blame you not wanting to go for that kinda scratch for a 200k mile vehicle......1998 to 2002 crown vics and grand marquis have the same rear. The town car might have the same one too but I'm not sure about the air suspension and if any modifications need to be done because they had air suspension. Getting the same gearing isnt necessary. Just know what gear ratio you have now and what ratio the new rear is and just upgrade the speedo gear in the transmission. Had to do that on my previous 69 chevelle and the 86 monte ss.

Should be able to pick up a rear farely cheap and there's how to's all over the internet on the subject. When you swap it out try and post up pictures and some detail here in our DIY section. Would be interesting to see.

[Happytrigger811]

Actually 1300 is good for a Ford dealer rebuild, use this opportunity as an upgrade and tell them to put a 3.73 POSI in the rear end instead of the 3.55 open differential. I'm running a 4.10 POSI but if you're concerned about keeping the balance between off the line takeoff and highway gas mileage, 3.73 is the way to go. I paid 900 bucks for parts and labor but then again I didn't have an axle snap on me. ADTR.com has good prices on gears and differentials

[JB13]

A lot of people are scarfed to death of the rear end ,with a shop manual and taking your time you will be amazed on what you can do yourself .as long as the tubes ar good and chewed up on the inside you can go in and replace it all if you can find the parts I did this on a 1968 firebird