Technical Buying 9" Ford Rearends

I'm thinking that he narrowed the nine inch rears to go under Taylor Dunn industrial carts. The ones that we had at the Seneca Juice plant I worked at all had them.

I've got 3 F 150 nine inch rears, one is just a housing, pumpkin with bad gears an 31 spline axles that came with a spare pair of axles. Paid 55.00 for it. Second one is a 3.0 Open that came with a new locker and a new machined from billet steel yoke for 200. Last one is a 3.55 locker that I paid 100 for and the guy helped me take it out and loaded it for me. That one will get cut down to go under my 48.

 

I've had this one for about twenty years, pretty sure it wasnt made in China.

 

I have a 9 inch under my Caliente that won't be going anywhere, but I collected two 9 3/8ths over the years, and will be using one to replace the 12 bolt under the Cameo. Both need narrowing, and I wanted to build one using the Gleason Torsen worm gear setup instead of a posi.
This gets me the big bearings and the axles with the extra splines, good insurance for big tires and a warmed 454 under the hood.
I am not starting any new projects at my age, and soon I will start selling the odds and ends I have collected over the years.
I haven't checked lately, but 9 inch stuff has been pricey here, with rear ends that need narrowing going for $300. I missed on a 9 inch nodular, and would have happily paid the $450 he was asking.
Bob

 

Well, I don't know how long I'm gonna live but I'm trying to be optimistic about it......been working so far as I'm 75. Seriously though, all my tools and stuff will pass to my son and I want him to have stuff that may be unobtainable in the future. Never hurts to have "too many".

 

I have to be realistic. I am 77, and still have active cancer (controlled, but not in remission), and multiple serious autoimmune issues. It is a fight just to keep active. I work hard at beating back the diseases, but approximately once per month, I have an autoimmune flareup that throws me back to the beginning, and I have to start all over.
The autoimmune issues are a fairly recent development, and they are causing most of the living issues right now.
Bob

 

j-jock - hang in there - one day at a time

 

I've used a few of the 9 3/8" rears over the years. Even narrowed one back in the day for a *ahem* prostreet *ahem* build. They are plenty tough and can be had for cheap around here if you can stand the gear ratios.

I never have stockpiled 9" rears as they are still available here for decent cash with a bit of networking, but at this point mostly use the 8.8" rears anyway. I have had two of those just given to me recently, so it's hard to argue.

 

They sure made a lot of those 9 inch rearends, and a heck of a lot of them were saved when the cars rusted away.

I can't see them getting rare while we're still driving gasoline powered cars.

 

Man, hate to hear that , Bob! Hope things get better! Glad to hear you have the fortitude to get out in the garage! Attitude is very important!






Bones

 

I have never seen one, but Ford apparently built other ratios for the 9 3/8ths rear ends that were in the 3.50 range, but I have never been able to find one. If I could get one in that range, I would use it and be a happy camper.
Bob

 

I am like one of those old Esso punching bags that you would see in every Esso Service Station in the 60s. Knock me down, and I bounce back for more. I have noticed with ageing, that I make a lot more noise now.
Bob

 

I would've swore I had a 9 3/8's and I put a regular 9 inch center in it, the rear maybe came out of a 78 T-bird ???

 

My son Rich enlightened me with the aftermarket axles (Moser, and others) so we are 'covered' when narrowing a 9" (or other) housing.
Problem: Wheel pattern size. 4.5", 4.75", 5". All available, but NO 5 on 5-1/2".
Chopping and resplining was available, but machinist passed away. (sometimes he welded for diameter to respline, hardening after...reasonable at $60 per.

 

From all I have read on them, there is no problem using the 9 inch pumpkin in the 9 3/8ths rear end. It is a bolt in.
You can also use a 9 3/8ths pumpkin in a 9 inch housing, by doing some grinding on the flange to clear the larger crown gear.
Bob

 

I have read the same, but never done it personally.

 

Yep, thats what I vaguely remember too. Nothing wrong with using a 9 3/8 if it has a ratio you can use. Don't know if there is a posi for it or not.

 

When I was building my Bonneville roadster 20 years ago, I went down to an Indio wrecking yard that had dozens and dozens of 9-inchers. The guy sold me an extra wide one out of a newer van for $100 as I told him I would have to cut it down. He told me that this one had the longest axles and would be perfect. Found out later that the axles slimmed down between the pumpkin and the ends. You couldn't respline them. Oh, well.

 

Copy that

 

3 years ago, I narrowed and hung a 9" under a Model A. During the job, I bought a few rear axles assemblies, they were late 60's F 100's. The one shown had been swapped for a ratio change, not sure why they didn't just swap the 3 rd member. As many of us, get too much junk to stumble over. After walking by this one for a month or so, wondering why I wasted a hundred bucks on it, I noticed the 'N', still don't know how it got in a daily driver Ford pu.

 

Doug, I know about those, and still have a couple.

 

I have never seen horizontal dimpled ones, only round dimples which line up with the loc bolts on the caps.

 

The last one I bought came out of a 57 Ford Wagon . The guy charged me $ 100 bucks for the bare housing . Of course he went down there and dug it out of the mud . The axles and chunk were long gone.
The one before that came from a 73 E100 van .I got it for 50 bucks and took it to Hudlow's 4x4 shop and they cut it down resplined the 31 spline axles and redrilled them for Chevy bolt pattern. for 200 bucks.

 

I picked up a 9" complete last year with stock disc brakes from a 1978 Lincoln for $200, I now don't recall the gear ratio. I had to pull it myself but for that price I didn't complain a bit. I didn't have far to go to get it either since I got it from my neighbor next door.

 

This was a one year only (57 F 100), extra thick tubes, without weld seams at the center, or the bearing cups. A friend of mine discovered this, in the early 70's while building a drag roadster. I have installed many of them through the years. Ford must have realized the cost to mfg, hence the short cycle of this design.

 

Well I think I'm done shopping. I bought 3 of em from different sellers for a total of $425. One was supposed to be a 3.25 turned out to be a 2.75. One is a 3.00 and one is a 3.70. I looked thru the ones I already have and there is a 3.25 in there. I found one of the old 9 3/8 pumpkins in my stash, so I'll post a picture here. For those of you looking for a 9", the way to tell a 9 3/8 rear is that the front of the pumpkin has a ridge that curves downward.
The thing about buying them is its hard to find narrow ones and if you do they often have light duty small bearings and axles.....like a 57 Ford unit. I think its better to just decide up front that you are going to narrow one and buy new axles. New axles and bearings aren't that much more than shortening old axles, resplining, and new bearings. Then you can get 31 or 35 spline axles to match the new limited slip/posi you will need.
I looked at parts prices for 8 inch rears, and from what I saw they were generally higher than 9" stuff. The cost of a 9" is pretty much the same as an 8" but you might not have to narrow the 8".......but you may have to rebuild it later if your engine is very powerful.

 

I don't think he was the only one doing that. The main reason the Ford 9" was used for these applications was because it was easy to couple the electric motor directly to the third member. The OEM pinion bearing carrier was discarded, and a new one set up to directly accept the electric motor was substituted. I believe they also discarded the tapered roller pinion bearings in favor of a single non-tapered bearing for easier setup. Because of the limited power and speed these saw, gear set up wasn't very critical.

 

Ford, like many, kept every line moving. If the line supplying the center section was short on regular ones, the next equivalent thing was grabbed, and sent on its way.

Nobody ever wants to pull the chain, or push the button, and stop the line.

 

I concur with Gimpy, I recall reading some years ago that "N" cases were very common in later production light pickups.

 

I have collected a lot of N case out of 70s Ford pickups. But oddly never found one behind a 460or 400, just Sport models with automatic 302s!







Bones

 

absolutely can put a 9" chunk in a 9 3/8's....other way around involves a little grinder work on the housing, but with the ratio's commonly available in the 9 3/8's I guess, why would ya?.... It's a typically serviceable (strength wise) rear and shouldn't be discounted in terms of scoring housings.