Technical The 9" you don't want?

I'm going to check out a couple of complete drum brake 9" Ford rear ends I found for sale locally. One will be used in my '33 Ford pu 425 Nailhead powered and the other may go into my '49 Austin gasser, blown 355 sbc powered. Both will have to be narrowed to fit my applications. I will narrow the housings and the axles will come from Moser or MW.
My question is; one rear is from an '83 F100 and the other is from a '79 F100, one 28 spline the other 31 spline. I'm no 9" rear end expert and I know there were lots of variations available. Any reason NOT to use these for my hot rods???? Thanks.

 

If you are going to put a spool in the Austin, use the 28 spline housing and use either 31 or 35 spline spool in it since you have to order axles anyway. If you are lucky, the rear end with the 31 spline axles may have a posi in it. If it does, just order axles to your length. If it is open and you want a posi... You will just have to get one of those too!

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So the truck rear ends are fine, just the usual upgrades? Nothing odd about them?

 

The truck housings are desirable as they usually have thicker metal.

 

The late pick up 9 inch are some of the strongest housing. All 9 inch third members will go into all housings. The N case , is the strongest third member, but kinda rare. I would use only 31 spline axles.

 

You may need to change the housing ends; Ford went to tapered roller axle bearings in the mid-'70s and most aftermarket stuff is designed for the more common press-on sealed ball bearings.

 

28 spline posi stuff is less common, as is aftermarket parts. Its out there though.
Complete brakes is a plus.

Posi and or decent gear for your build wins out.

 

Thanks folks! We're off to go check them out. Glad you mentioned the bearings Steve, I'll look 'em over and keep that in mind. The seller is an Off-road guy and seems to know his stuff about 9" rears I just don't know enough to know what I don't want. My Hot Rod Fund is running low so I don't want to throw money away.
I was looking at a new housing and axles - $900, new drum brakes - $400, 3rd member - $300-1500. OUCH. By narrowing my own housing, buying axles, some brake parts and setting up the appropriate gears I'm hoping to have $650-850 in each complete rear ready to run.

 

That's not too much $$$ for a ready-to-run axle.
When I had my 40 chevy coupe I thought I'd save some money by buying my 9"axle parts one at a time. When it was said and done I had $1400 in mine and hadn't bought the brakes yet! I found I could have bought a complete Moser or Dutchman 9" ford for less money.

 

Go with the 31 spline axle; it's stronger & not tapered.
I have an '81 31-spline 9" pickup rearend under my Tudor.

 

Big web housings are strongest, top pic^
This one is the small web housing^.
When I bought my 9'' Ford truck rear, it seemed like a smokin' deal.
$50 drum to drum. Well, the center section was a small bearing open diff. The 31 spline axles were too long. Guy who narrowed the housing said axles were only hardened at the ends and shorten/resplining would be risky. So all I used was the big web housing.

 

Big web shown here.

 

Check http://www.quickperformance.com/ May be something of interest..

 

The truck housings have a larger bolt circle than most Fords. If you already have wheels you may have to re drill the wheel studs.

 

For the gasser build, lots of the later housings have long shoulder with the tube going up inside, avoid them as the shoulder will mess with where you want to put you ladderbar or 4 link brackets. None of the center sections will do you any good because you'll need 3.250 bearings for 35 spline axles. The existing strength in the rear isn't a factor because you'll be adding backbrace and lower bracing tying the brackets together and joining them to the center section. When I built drag rears I'd avoid truck housings, they might have been a plumbers truck or stonemasons and bent all to hell and gone and then you'll have to tweek them back into shape to for the alignment bar to get the new ends on.

 

Some 9 inch rears end up being 9&3/8", had a couple out of big LTD/T-birds, not sure if they were used in trucks, not much aftermarket parts support for them.
They have the same bolt pattern on the third member and the 9 inch center will bolt into the 9&3/8" housing.

 

OJ
You won't bend these truck housings, tubes are integral to the housing stamping, no welds.
These are out of 57 F100's.

 

Try to get the one he hasnt beat the hell out of on rocks and trails. Most 4x4 guys I know have spares that havent been off roaded yet. Always planning the next build like us.

 

Yes, those are good ones, I believe the CJ Mustangs of the mid sixties had them too. I have one tucked away, I was going to use it under L'Il Honker the Competition Coupe for Hilton but I wound up making a him different one. Maybe an Olds? I don't remember.

 

No, the Mustangs are a fabricated housing like most of them and not a very big web like the later truck and big car housings. I had one of them put away years ago also but a friend talked me out of it.

 

I believe the double dimple is the thing to look for, right? I also believe the 8" housing looks the same down to the double dimple, its easy to make a mistake as they were used in the early Mustang as well. I think the tubes on your housing are thicker as well. Thats a nice piece. I doubt if I've seen more than 2 or 3 of those.

 

I think most any questions relating to the nine inch Ford rear ends are answered here:
http://www.kevinstang.com/Ninecase.htm

 

No welds? How did they do that?
Here's mine, had it for a while but never did get a positive I'd on it.
Round smooth cover, flat spot in the middle, no dimples, drain plug in the bottom. You can feel the tube shoulder inside. Know what it is? Best I heard was "early"

 

Consider an aftermarket case. The stock cases have been known to blow the pinion out the top.
Strange makes a 31, 33,35, 40 spline spool and axles. Remember Strange says their carriers are not compatible with other manufacturers axles.

 

40 years ago the 9" of choice was the '57-59 Ranchero as it fit '32-'34 Fords without narrowing.

 

smooth back is the early unit....57 up I believe until early 60's....

 

Another oddity about the 57 F100 housing, bearing ends are integral, not welded.
Photo courtesy of Marty Strode.

 

Never knew that one Marty. I've got two truck housings and one car housing out here all with big bearings.
For the one going under my truck I am thinking that I might be better off buying the correct length axles and then taking the housing out to a machine shop about 15 miles west of me that does axles as one of their specialties. I've got plenty of 31 spline axles that I can have cut down though. That 292 isn't going to have huge torque or launch hard so I should be good.

 

I get all of my 9 inch stuff from Quick Performance . Any width you want and comes with axles. They have the brakes too. Also third member stuff if you want it. They have always done me right.

 

Um' that rear goes with the 37' + tube front axle..!