Hot Rods 9" ford rearends

If pulling the trick of "two short axles", be advised to use a NEW one for the one that you subbed for the former long one.
Axles take a 'set' once miles are on them. (a 'reversed' axle will finally twist at the splines under some occasional hard acceleration)
A foolish fellow I knew pulled the axles out of the '50 Olds rear in his newly bought '29 roadster pickup. The axles were standing on their flanges, I walked up and noticed the twist...three degrees!
When I said "Good thing you pulled those axles..." he denied torque twist. "You can tell, that's the way they're designed."
I wiped my forehead...

 

Interesting, never thought about that but it makes sense. Got a couple 9" axle shafts in the basement for spares. Might take a look at them. Came from a salvage yard stocker, so they are probably okay -but you never know. Thanks for the tip Mike.
-Dave

 

I just finished a 8.8 Ford for my T. Came from a 2001 Explorer; 3.73 Trac-Loc, disc brakes, & 31 spline axles. I narrowed it by pulling long tube and cutting it 3" to match short side and used another passenger side axle. Hardest part was drilling out the plug welds. Lots of info on narrowing these rears on the Jeep forums. Popular swap for them.

Also swapped the caliper brackets side for side to place calipers on front side of axle. This, along with retaining explorer dust shields, helps hide the discs from the rear

 

LOL I never try to hide anything. I got my reasons but that would be trying to force my values down your throat so we will leave it at I never try to hide anything.

Here is a trick that some of use, I know @Atwater Mike has done it in the past, very old trick. When you build your rear end before you insert the axles paint a longitudinal line down the axle. Now when you do your yearly inspection ( you don't like waiting for the stretcher on the side of the road right?) you can give a quick look and see how much your axle has twisted. If it has twisted very much it is probably a good idea to swap in a new axle. yes my friends axles do wear out.

OK nuthin to do with the thread, but what the hell, I won't charge you for it.

 

31A.
An 8" rear behind a flathead will work fine in your coupe. I have one in the sedan w/3.55 gears and a t-5.
It's lighter than a 9" also.

 

Why would you hide them?

 

I ain't hiding them. Nice and shiny out in the open for the world to see.
View from the rear is less cluttered with the calipers to the front. I did not use the dust shields but threw that in for those that might want to disguise the discs. You know, the same people that run covers on front with discs inside.

 

The info about the brake interchange is not completley correct.I bought a 67 bronco 9 inch that had 10" brakes.drums are very pricey and some parts are hard to find. I bought backing plates and drums from a 79 full size bronco 11" drums and brakes.I drilled the backing plates to fit my housing and drilled the drums and axles to 4 3/4 bolt pattern. I have run this setup on my T-bucket for several years.

 

Once they get around to 180, you can switch 'em side for side and un-wind 'em...

 

In my younger days there were enough occasions of launching in reverse to keep em in stasis. A hasty retreat was, at times preferable to the perceived complications that lie ahead. And then there was simply "backward practice."

 

Do you have the 3:89 9" for 31 spline axles? Is any of them positive traction? You can email me at zrxlover@att. net with your response. Are they ready to drop in or do they need to be rebuilt?

Sent from my KYOCERA-E6560

 

Gears are sold. No lockers. Tried email, did not work.

 

thanks to all for the great info....might be looking for the 8" instead as suggested. 9" rears are getting pretty hard to find and i don't want to go with any repro's right now, too expensive.

 

Everything I've read says the early Broncos 9" bolts right into a 46-48 ford car with a parallel leaf kit. I have a '47 car and the bronco rear but haven't tried it yet.