The guy I sold my original rear axle to said he was running a Ford 9" from an earlier model pick up. But that seems like a little overkill for my plans. I agree with using the Explorer 8.8. Ive used that rear before and like it a lot. Especially with the disc brake option. I am planning on using steel wheels with beauty rings and baby moons. Still looking for some rollers for now. I knew I should have kept the wheels I took off my new Jeep!...LOL @rshellen....As far as what width axle to use, even though the one kit mounts the spring inside the frame, you still have the frame rails to contend with. So it is the frame that is going to determine the axle width.
If you still have your stock rims and can spare 1/2" on each side, you can get a bolt pattern adapter. Those work really well. Check out Adapt-it-usa.com
Love me some 41's, here is my build thread I did on my 41 Merc Sedan and a picture to go along with it. It may have some information that will help you out with yours. When you get to the drop axle, give Kohler Kustoms a call, Andrew did mine. Had it shipped, dropped and back to me in two weeks. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/tale-of-my-two-1941-mercs.966151/#post-10878526
Eric54chevy, that is one nice Merc. I had the exact same one when I was 18. I love the front on the Merc's better than the Ford's. Here is my 41 Tudor:
Eric54chevy, that was a great thread of a great looking merc. Glad to see a few 41's out there, being new to the hamb scene, hadn't found alot to compare and get ideas from.
I do have the original wheels with the beauty rings and caps.....that just may be the way to go...at least until I decide what I like. Good idea!
Nice and warm here today, made a little progress. Axle hung and centered. Next step is to locate and weld upper shock mounts. I might be able use the factory anti-roll bar. Free tires and cheap wheels will have to do the job until I find the right ones. On to the front axle.
Looks great! Ive been down with the flu for the last week so no progress on my end. Looks like the 8.8 is a great fit too.
Scored pretty good today. Went to the local u pull it yard today in search of a rear axle for the '41. They just got in a '99 Mercury Mountaineer (luxury version of the Ford Explorer). It was a V8 car and had a nice 8.8 rear with disc brakes and a lot of extras on it like drag links and stabilizer bar. I checked the numbers on the tag and it turns out to be a 3:73 locker rear axle! Got it all including the drive shaft for $123....Im a happy boy!...
Great deal on the axle. I spent $250 for the same set up, minus driveshaft. The yard owner did pull it and drop it in my shop, so that's worth something. The pick and pulls close to me are 3 hours round trip. Once you get the axle in, try the sway bar. I am working on a way to use the end links mounted to the cross-member. Let me know if you come up with anything. I just about have the shocks ready to install. Called the local spring shop ( St. Louis Spring), and they say $100 to reverse the main spring, and de-arch the rest. Hope they come out right.
The sway bar looks like its going to be very easy to adapt to this set up. Im also going to try and incorporate the factory drag links. Looks like they should just bolt up to the frame with the factory brackets. I will probably have to relocate the mount brackets over an inch or two on the axle. I would say you got a pretty good deal on your axle too. I had to spend three hours and bustin knuckle's while you got yours delivered to you! lol.... The biggest advantage to pulling my own was being able to remove all the extra brackets and hardware. I still have to remove the existing spring pirches and weld on the new ones. Im still getting over the flu so Im moving kinda slow....
I ended up using a thin cut off wheel to remove the spring perches, and came out nice. I don't plan to weld the new perches untill I get some weight and engine in the car, so I can find my pinion angle. Should have my front spring back Friday, hope to install this weekend.
Probably a good idea to wait to weld the perches. But I dont think it is as critical with the 8.8 rear since the pumpkin is off center which already incorporates a decent angle for the u joints. I just got my old perches ground off using a thin cut off wheel like you did. I will probably re use the factory spring perches since they incorporate the brake line mount bracket. Plus the brackets that came with the kit are too small for the 8.8 rear.
I had the same issue with my kit. Perches were for a 3 inch tube. I ended up just grinding them out just slightly. Overlaid the factory perch on the supplied perch and drew a line, then cut. I also welded tabs on my new perches for the brake lines, but since the spring pads are now narrower than the explorer, they won't work. Caliper hoses will be stressed, from what I see now, unless I missed something.
Its always the little things that take the most time...lol. I guess we are going to have to fab up some new brake lines!
Well...not a whole lot of progress on my end. But, I did finally get the rear axle bolted in. On a good note, the factory drag links and torsion bar line up pretty well with the 41 chassis and should be an easy mount. Also, I took the advice of Cosmo50 and purchased a cheap set of wheel adapters so I can use the stock wheels as rollers until I decide what wheel and tire combo I decide to use.
Looks good! Any progress is good in my book. I've been air bagging a customers 68 mercury Monterey to make a little fun money for my dropped axle. What was your plan for the front end on your 41?
Im pretty much staying all stock. Since I plan on running just a sbc 350/350 combo, Im going with the split wishbone/trans mount setup. Also already have the disc brake conversion kit. Im trying to keep this a very low budget build. Im even planing on using the stock steering since it was in good condition when I pulled it. No play or wobble in it.
I am thinking about trying to make this set up work on my 41. Its a 4 bar with spring in front of axle mount. Its for a 35-40 car so I need to find the dementions for a 40 Ford chassis to see how close it is to the 41. Has anyone had any experience with this setup??? Here is the PDF instructions: 916-39108 Instructions
You mentioned a disc brake kit. Which one did you use? Thinking of going myself with the one that uses the ford truck rotors and impala calipers.
I went again with a kit from Speedway. Its the 78-88 GM caliper with 11 inch rotors in the Ford 5 x 4 1/2 bolt pattern. Pretty simple set up. http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Disc-...-to-Early-Ford-Spindle-5-on-4-1-2In,4575.html 910-31945 Instructions
EDIT: Now that I have the sedan body off the frame, if I could find a short door coupe body, I would like to swap it out....
I had not made my mind up as to what drive line to go with (SBC or SBF) but that got solved a couple days ago. A friend of a friend had a 74 Impala from the original owner with 68K+ miles on a ratted out body. Scored a 350/350 and made a couple bucks in the deal. Bought the whole car for $200 plus 60 bucks for delivery to my home. Pulled the engine/trans/driveshaft and then sold the body to a guy, who wanted to use it for a demolition derby car, for $350. All took place in two days. Im a happy boy!
Ok....not much interest in this slow moving thread I see...LOL....While I do plan to go thru the eng/trans, for now its a perfect mock up for the mounts etc....As you can see from the pics the eng/trans is temp installed using Chassis Engineering bolt in mounts. Once I have it all set up, I do plan on running a weld for the mounts. There is plenty of clearance on the right side with the headers, the left side may be a problem. The stock steering box fits fine without an exhaust manifold, but the headers I had laying around wont fit the left side....But no big deal....I will figure out something! Also, in between the eng/trans install, I decided to get the brakes taken care of. Since the Speedway front disc brake conversion came with new calipers, pads and hoses, and since Im installing new lines and master cylinder, I figured now was the time to install all new calipers, pads, rotors and hose lines in the rear. Im going to go with a Speedway master cylinder and mount that just bolts in for the 41 Ford. Once that arrives, I will be able to make all new lines and be done with the brakes. I am very pleased with how easy this Ford Explorer 8.8 rear has bolted in. It required very little modifications to make it fit. The torsion bar and drag links are almost a bolt in! Wont be long before the body goes back on!
You are making good progress! I have gotten bogged down in a customers build, but it's almost done. Making real good money for my project. I did land a 50 Mercury overdrive for my project, and my axle goes out next week to be dropped. This is what I've been doing, can't recall if its hamb-able, but oh well
How much is the cost to drop your front axle and how many inches? I am going to order the 4 bar set up I talked about earlier in this thread. Ive also decided to go with a dropped axle. I may have mind done but will wait until after the 4 bar install. I may have to go with a different axle to make this work. That Merc looks good!
If I remember correctly, Sid's in Oklahoma gets $250 to drop them. With factory drop included I think they total 4 inch of drop. I'm having him fit new kingpins and bend the steering arms while he's doing the axle. With the reversed and de arched spring I am hoping for 6 inches of drop.
Wow...6" is a lot of drop! God knows what it would cost to ship there and back from here.....I will probably just go with a new axle....Ive seen them on sale from either Speedway or Johnny law motors for less then 300 bucks.... (and with free shipping too...)
You should search Johnny Law on here. I'm thinking there was negative reports about that business here.
Ive decided not to use anything that was not USA made, if at all possible. Pretty sure the speedway axles are offshore. Even if I have to pay a little more, it's worth it to me. Check out my rebuilt BW overdrive I picked up friday. Can't wait to get it on the road.
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