What rear did you use in a 1953-56 Ford F-100 to replace original Dana 44 same width--- and leaf spring set-up--- pictures and info-- Thanks
That 57 9 inch is the narrower version, hard to find one year only width, correct? But I think the widths stayed the same after until 72 The 68 -72 got the larger drums, the 67 down has the narrow brakes. Should resemble your 56 stuff.
I put a nine inch in mine 45 years ago. Bolt in if I remember, but don’t remember which nine inch I used! Lol, been too long. Bones
The 57 rear would seem the most logical on a cronological basis but finding one is another thing, they have been sought after for many years due to their strength, namely the housing, they were very popular with drag racers. There are two things that contribute to this, the heavy wall thickness in the axle tube area and the fact that the tubes are not welded to the center as most all other housings are. This is the housing in my roadster and as can easily be seen it is quite beefy.
That is correct 1957 to 1972 Ford F-100-- 1968 to 72 were the 31 spline-- But try to find one-- Explorer 1995 to 2001 Explorer with disc brakes is to narrow I had to use 1 1/2" spacers on each side to make 61" so what else have you used ? ?
If ya want the small ford bolt pattern a late 50s early 60 full size. I pulled a 9 inch from a 62 ish galaxy. 61ish wide and had the 5x4.5 bolt pattern
Near impossible to find a 57/72 F 100 in a wrecking yard around here and even harder to find one with a 9 inch still under it. I've got plenty of the wide F150 nine inch housings but No F100 and if the 68/72 thing holds true that would be a bonus for me.
Okay, I suppose you can go up to 72, I thought they got wider but not positive, don't matter. What I am positive about is the 57-62 is a 100% direct bolt in. However that said you do need the lower U-Bolt cast bracket and the bolt on shock mount. This is due to the the Axle housing tube being larger dia. You also need the locater plate that sits on top of the leaf springs. With the 57-62 unit you don't even need to mess with the Brakes. You can leave the lines connected on the stock 53-56 unit slide the axles out of each housing and suspend the backing plates while changing the housings over even leaving the E-Brake cables connected. Once the 57-62 unit is bolted back in mount the stock brakes back on and if you have the 57-62 Yoke on the Diff the stock 53-56 driveshaft goes right back in place. Literally just Nutz and Boltz. Ya I know they aren't in every Junk Yard anymore but they are out there. If I've done this once I've done it 20 times. Even my 53 has one in it.
Good question. Been to many years to remember. I do remember if the Housing has welded on factory shock mounts I wouldn't use it. Seems like there was a Pinion angel to spring pad issue. Again not sure. Like I said, I only bought up to 62 for some specific reason. Haven't done one in 30 plus years.
Just wondering. I have had a few f100s. I know my 67 has the narrow drums like my 63 had. The 61 looked identical to the 63. Looked is the key word. The 68 has the wider drums. The 31 spine ones I have fund have been 72 up. And the 73s are a good bit wider.
I have an 8.8 rear end out of a ‘93 Explorer in my F-100. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Not true, very few truck nine inch were 31 spline until the later seventies. Most 31 spline rear ends of that era were the 9 and 3/4 version and were fairly rare. Bones
Ford widened the rear frame in 1973, thus also a wider rear from then on up. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
That would be 9&3/8" Can't say as to the axle count but that bigger rear was plentiful in the FoMoCo big car line, such as Lincolns, LTD's, T-birds, etc. I drug home two of them many years ago that I got for free, long before I even knew they existed, commenced to removing all that ugly oem bracketry off them and a friend pointed out what they were, said the aftermarket did not support them for gear options so they sat around for a number of years before they were given away. The 9" center section will bolt right in but to put the bigger center in the smaller housing a bit of notching is required to clear the larger ring gear.
Yep, my bad, got my fractions mixed up, it seems to happen more often , now. Lol I used to collect those desirable nine inch rear ends, back in the day. To get the 31 spline axles you had to find a pick up around 1976/7 or so. Like mentioned “ some” earlier nine inch were 31 spline, but very few. The ones I looked for were the “N” case rear ends. That way you were almost guarantied a 31 spline, Traction loc, and 3:50 gear. I bought about ten of them for future projects. I have used about half of them, now. Thanks, for keeping me straight! The odd thing about these N case rear ends is , I would usually find them in the “Sport” model trucks that had 302s in them! Probably the lowest torque engine Ford ever put in a pickup! I never found, even one, behind a 460! Bones
The 57-72 is a "bolt in" in that the spring pads are in the right spot. I used a '60 in my f100, and a '67 in my panel. I ground the arc on the lower plates to jump from the 2.5" axle tube to the 3". I also egged out the u-bolt holes to clear. Kept the stock shock set up. 53-67 uses 2" drums, and 68-72 uses 2.5". The 2.5s are a lot easier and cheaper to get brake parts for. A lot of the street rodders using the explorer axle will use 2 short side axles and narrow the housing. Maybe could do the reverse and use 2 long sides to get a truck suitable width? would have to kill 2 housings to do it, but they're cheap and plentiful.
The 1973 ( I think) and up are some what wider than the earlier Ford pickup nine inch rear ends. The nine inch came in about six different widths. Bones
I installed a 1979 in my Buddy’s F100 and a 65 in My F1 . They worked with no mods at all including shock brackets . You can not use OEM spring plates , must use the later ones with the housing and UBolts . Bones , I’m like you I have found many N Cases in Ford trucks . I found an F100 300 6 cyl 3 on the tree that was 4.57 . I’m like WTH is this ! The truck ones I had did not have the Daytona Pinion Support , but did have the big ujoint yokes .
I was working at a Ford dealer in Springerville ,Az. My boss brought me a 53 F100 and told me my winter project was to put a 428 Cobra Jet with a C-6 in the truck. We were cleaning out the parts room of all of our NOS parts . So he told me to use everything I could from the parts room. The long time service manager raced a Maverick with a 427 side oiler so he had built up quite a stock pile of FE parts in the stock room before the new owner bought the dealership. We had a brand new complete 9 inch out of a 69 F100 and it fit like a glove with very few mods. The 428 was also new in the crate along with the C-6. We also found a new set of fenders in the rafters on the other side of the dealership that used to be the stables for the the stage coach line that stopped in their before it became a Stanley Steamer dealer and then a Ford dealer.
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