Technical Ford 9" rear axle

Before you start searching for sledgehammer and prybar to get the third member out, doublecheck you have pulled the axles out. Everything will be tight and gaskets in many many pieces before it's over. The smell of gear fluid reminds you a week after how much fun it was crawling under there.

 

Whenever I set up a 9" housing, I always add a drain plug in the bottom of the main housing. Then if I ever have to remove the pumpkin again, I can drain all the smelly/messy oil before breaking the seal on the pumpkin. Just weld a round piece of bar stock on the bottom and then drill and tap it for an oil pan drain plug.

 

Exact same thing I said in the last thread about this, then someone had to throw out well you can use GM additive blah blah and it went downhill from there lol. Usually you don't even have to add more additive, if you just go spin some circles and it has additive in it, just need to work it into the plates- just had to do it with my Exploder, started making noise and shuddering turning away from stop signs, a few circles in the back lot at WallyWorld fixed it right up. The tag on the Exploder says it has 140 synthetic in it

 

Yeah, that is a stench you won't soon forget.

 

Thanks for all the information guys. HRP

 

Ah yes, the aroma of 90W....

I had a '58 Ford wagon in the late '60s with a built FE and toploader 3-speed. Being a poor teen, I couldn't afford a 4-speed or the newer upgraded 9" so I broke a lot of 9" rears (along with 28 spline axles. The axles were $10 at the wrecking yard, a 3.56 WAR-cased 9" was $35). I had an old coat that I kept in the garage just for changing third members and that poor coat got soaked with gearlube. Well, my mother found it and decided it needed washing.... all that came out of the washer was the zipper; the rest of it disappeared...

 

Fun getting it to run down the axle tube out in the driveway when it is about zero and of course my mom told us to stay away from the kitchen stove after heating the first pan of 90 weight.

 

It’s entirely possible that there’s a Detroit Locker in there if the 9” is from a Bronco. You didn’t state a model year, but I think the early Bronco had a factory option for a Detroit, and although a Traction Lock was common in later Broncos, a lot of off road guys put in Detroit Lockers. Very popular swap in some circles.

 

Even if you don't damage any of them it's almost guaranteed that you'll drop a couple that will roll under your bench. A "magnet on a stick" won't help you retrieve it/them either.

 

Finn, the guy I bought it from said it was out of a 1975 Bronco.

 

I’m putting my money on it being a Detroit Locker. That’s the old small Bronco that the off road guys go bonkers over.

I don’t recall having driveability issues with a Traction lock.

 

Someone may have installed one. I don't believe any Bronco left the factory with D/L that I know of.

Easy enough to find out if you have one. Jack the rear so both wheels are off the ground then grab a wheel and rotate it. Turn the wheel back and forth, it should click, click, click, then clunk and lock. When it does lock it's takes quite a bit of effort to turn the tire as you will be turning the whole differential. That's the way mine works.

 

Drain plugs on the bottom of 9-in rear ends often leak, even pro build units. As a few of you have mentioned, that oil smells bad and slowly propagates everywhere. Harbor freight sells cheap evacuators that work damn good. That's the way I do it - plus, then you can change your oil in style through the dipstick tube

 

What he said.
The Detroit locker would also explain the clunking - I've been off-roading before in a bronco with one and when it locks, it feels like somebody is rear ending you. A lot of guys don't like the harshness of that - I think it's awesome!

 

My Boss 302 had a 4.30 Detroit. 1st time those ratchets locked back up after a turn I thought I broke an axle. I'd only had the car a week.

 

Be sure to get a friend to help you. I think the average weight of that center section is about 13.8 tons and they never want to easily slide onto the bolt studs.

 

I bought a used Boss 302 with a 3.91 Detroit also. I took the car back to the dealership the first day I bought it and told them somethings wrong with the differential. Mechanic test drove it, came back and said everything's working fine. I was 18 and it was my first experience with one.

Then there's the day I tramped on it around a corner when the road was damp...............

 

But then with a little practice feathering the throttle in a slow corner, one could freak your Chebbrainwashed buddies with the 'ol boom-n-twitch lol

 

Yes, anything can leak but anyone who has ever removed one of these knows its usually a messy job at best. Draining the oil with a simple drain plug and catch pan really helps avoid the mess and smell. If an oil pan drain plug with the attending gasket is used, there really shouldn't be any leakage.

If anyone has one of those roll around transmission jacks, they can help a bunch for supporting and positioning the pumpkin.

 

If the rear end has set for a while, you can have drivability issues with a Trac loc. When I bought my 1968 Bronco it had been setting a while! It felt like two gears were trying to crawl over each other at times! The solution….. ten tight turn to the left, ten to the right! Smooth as silk!





Bones

 

Another oddball thing on the drain plug. The factory one on my 57 is a square drive but smaller than 3/8". Who in the hell has a 5/16" male square drive socket in their toolbox? I sure don't have one.

 

I do.... LOL.

Amazon.com: Sunex 310PC 3/8-Inch Drive 5/16-Inch Male Pipe Plug Socket : Tools & Home Improvement

 

If and When you do pull the center section out, leave a couple nuts on with a few threads so when you fight it to break it loose it don't end up in the before mentioned pan of oil.

 

11/32 12point or 9mm 12 point; maybe a hammer too

 

I had a cat fall into a pan of 90 wt once. Talk about a MESS! Have you ever tried to clean that shit off of something that is pissed off, lightning fast and all teeth and claws? Welding gloves required!!

 

It blow my mind how those NASCAR guys can change one out during a race when it is smoking hot.

 

Gene, you know spell check can fix this.

 

I got a bunch of that crap on a sweatshirt one time, soaked it in Dawn and ran it through the washer a couple times. I was gonna throw all the shop towels in there with a bunch of soap to get the stink out of the washer, but by the time I got back in the house with the towels, the GF had tossed her fancy undies in there. Spent Saturday at Victoria's Secret paying for her new, better fancy undies... Good part was I got to help pick them out Expensive day- woulda been a lot cheaper tossing out the sweatshirt

 

That's why the flange at the bottom of the mating surface on the pumpkin is always destroyed. step one pull out the axles step two take all the nuts off, step three Drop it on the floor from two feet up