Ford 9" 3rd member case/housing cracked? Or casting mark?

[tirewater]

I might have one, I am a few hrs south of you. Is there an easy way to identify the 2.89 case vs the 3.0?

Thanks for the offer, but I'm already committed to the bigger case.

And don't throw away the brand new bearings just yet. Most members have the same size and someone might need them.
If you have the time to do it, they might go quickly.

Paul

Getting them off without damage is a bit of a problem. The ring gear side is pretty tight, and hard not to nick, bend or otherwise damage the bearing cage.

I'll post some pictures once the case gets here.

 

[tirewater]

Just to follow up. In addition to the crack, my original 9" case had bolt scrapes as well as a porous casting. So I bought a Currie 9" nodular case. I was happy to see that the case was stamped with a Currie part number and not a generic private label that pervades the industry.

I put the 3rd together with new Timken bearings and Summit private label 3.50 gears. Unfortunately I couldn't get a decent pattern on the gears...which resulted in unacceptable levels of noise. In addition to ridculous amount of LSD groan. So, I tore it back a part.

I ordered a set of US Gears 3.50 gears, and sent the Summit ones back. I bought new Timken pinion and carrier bearings *again*. I could've reused the carrier bearings, but what's another $30 as I wanted to eliminate any noise from before. I soaked the LSD clutch plates in LSD additive (Ford).

I bought a checking tool, which got things close. However checking distance measurements varied 6 thousands or so...a few pattern checks (and shims) got me to what I wanted.

Sooo...attempting to save some money buying private label gears and carrier ended up costing me quite a bit in time and bearings. The case I couldn't do anything about, oh well.

Rear is silent now...just took a lot of time to get it that way.

Some pics of pattern, old case, new case...