9 inch swap

[karterfred88]

Can you try to repost...the pic won't enlarge and I can't seem to download it.

None of the thumbnails will open, database problem again. But now are working as of 12/10

[Alan]

After someone dug up this thread, I went out and measured a few 9" I have under my 5 Studes, + a few in the parts rack. 57-59 Ford passenger car small bearing rears are close to 58" wide. They ran from 57" to 58" none the same in width. The new Explorer large bearing will not fit the pass. car rear. The wagon 57-59's with the large bearings were running about 57 1/2". That Speedway 56" for $600 is looking better and better all the time.

[GCurtis]

I put a Ford 8.8 out of a 1990 Mustang (Fox body) in my 63 Lark, width is great, just cut off all the Ford mounts and put on some new perches for the leaf spring application (Fox is a coil). Ended up using Speedway lower plates and had a spring shop make the U bolts as the tubes on the 8.8 are 2.75". The perches I used were 3" tube perches, but they worked fine. One word of caution, the 8.8" axles tubes are not the thickest material out there. I ended up having a weld shop put them on to be safe, I was afraid of warping the tubes. The shop I used set up a jig to ensure good square measurements and pinion angle. The other item that added to the cost was the Fox uses 4 Lug axles, so I had to convert it to 5 lug axles, thankfully that is such a popular upgrade they make pretty affordable kits to do it, or you can junk yard shop for 2 drivers axles from Ford Rangers or 2 Passengers side axles from Ford Aerostar. They can come from 8.8 or I believe 7.5 axles as well. The newer mustangs, SN-95 series use the 8.8 as well but also go to a disk brake set up that I think adds about 2" to overall width. Fox units are 9" drums. Ending up with about $400 in the whole project, parts and weld shop.

Rangers and Explorers offset the pumpkin, it is not centered and use 2 different length axles. I was concerned about the drive shaft angle and went Mustang to keep a centered pumpkin. I have yet to put power to it, but the set up fits in there nice and was a pretty straight forward modification. In hindsight, I could have been more patient looking for a Dana 44 in the gear ratio I wanted, or found the pieces and put it together, but this one just kind of landed in my lap, so the project began!

[Treblig]

I put a Ford 8.8 out of a 1990 Mustang (Fox body) in my 63 Lark, width is great, just cut off all the Ford mounts and put on some new perches for the leaf spring application (Fox is a coil). Ended up using Speedway lower plates and had a spring shop make the U bolts as the tubes on the 8.8 are 2.75". The perches I used were 3" tube perches, but they worked fine. One word of caution, the 8.8" axles tubes are not the thickest material out there. I ended up having a weld shop put them on to be safe, I was afraid of warping the tubes. The shop I used set up a jig to ensure good square measurements and pinion angle. The other item that added to the cost was the Fox uses 4 Lug axles, so I had to convert it to 5 lug axles, thankfully that is such a popular upgrade they make pretty affordable kits to do it, or you can junk yard shop for 2 drivers axles from Ford Rangers or 2 Passengers side axles from Ford Aerostar. They can come from 8.8 or I believe 7.5 axles as well. The newer mustangs, SN-95 series use the 8.8 as well but also go to a disk brake set up that I think adds about 2" to overall width. Fox units are 9" drums. Ending up with about $400 in the whole project, parts and weld shop.

Rangers and Explorers offset the pumpkin, it is not centered and use 2 different length axles. I was concerned about the drive shaft angle and went Mustang to keep a centered pumpkin. I have yet to put power to it, but the set up fits in there nice and was a pretty straight forward modification. In hindsight, I could have been more patient looking for a Dana 44 in the gear ratio I wanted, or found the pieces and put it together, but this one just kind of landed in my lap, so the project began!

If the pinion off set keeps the drive shaft inside the drive shaft tunnel it really won't make any difference as long and the rear end is perpendicular to the engine/trans drive line.

Treblig

[Alan]

The Stude engine and trans are offset. If you use a center pinion center line case, you will have 2 angles. Only the trucks were centered.

[GCurtis]

The Ford 8.8 pinion is offset in the pumpkin, but the pumpkin is centered in the overall length of the axle. The Explorer and Rangers offset the entire pumpkin and then have some offset in the pinion. I have heard both work just fine. I spoke to a few folks who were using the explorer unit and some using the mustang version, all reported no issues.