Hot Rods Banjo Rear vs. 1957 Ford 9"

Well, you said you wanted to build a " It will be a show car styled 1936 Ford pickup."
Most of the old show cars I saw in magazines back in the day were more focused on the looks of it. Big engine, nice body/interior and adaptor to typical transmission and banjo rearend. It was all about style , eye appeal and not much about hard driving.

 

True.

 

I know. I like the smooth back 9” as well. All
Good points.

 

I like rearends with big dimples

 

I have a 55 Chevy rear end like that that I grabbed for my GMC. Broken with a bent axle. when I asked my older pal that I got it from about it he said "oh yeah, we busted a lot of them, this must have been one!"

 

Go with a 9" and forget about it. I thought going banjo on my 40 would be simpler and more economic since I already had it. Man was I wrong!

 

Why bother to have a Caddy in it if you have to worry about the rear end?
If you visit F100 World you will find a lot of pickup guys are going to 8.8s and would like to get that nasty old 9 inch out of their way.
Chances are you can find someone very willing to part with a 57ish 9 inch from a pickup who's only fault was not being the latest trend.

 

A 57 wagon is the desired rear end for 9” options.

 

So, the way I start my builds. Frame up. I start on the front suspension and gather my bits.

• So far I have a dropped 36 axle and 12" F250 backing plates. Looking for the spindles I need. (I have a set of 36 wishbones.
• I have a set of boxing plates ready to weld up.
• I have decided to run the 60-52 C10 MC, so I have hanging pedals designed for that MC.
• Working my way to the back. I have a 62 390 Caddy and bell housing.
• No trans yet, so I started on the rear end and rear springs.
• Once I collect those, I will start on the frame

So, there is a method to my madness.

 

Only dorks drive 57's. 55's are the way to go. Plus, I wouldn't want any Mopar parts on my car.

 

Norm and Tommy say banjo. One ran a Cadillac, the other a Nailhead.

 

Also, a good point....

 

I call that 'the rubber fuse.'

 

Clearly, the Banjo is the most traditional, and the least reliable.

The olds would be a reliable and traditional alternative.
The 55-57 Chevy was, in my opinion, a more common swap into the old Fords than a 9” prior to the seventies and eighties. The 9” is strong and cheap, but is more of a street rod- monochrome paint-billet-aluminum-mullet hair do era swap than the other alternatives. It dominated until recently, but my memory says it didn’t become common hot rod material until the very late sixties or, more likely, the seventies, at best.

The Ford 8.8 is now eating into the 9” popularity, primarily because of cost and availability, but is obviously not a consideration for this build.

 

A Squarebird 9" rear end is actually narrower than the 57 Ford station wagon rear end. Easier to find these days too.

 

At the same cross roads. Nice 40 with a stock Columbia etc. Contemplating maybe an overhead. At 78 have maybe a bit more sense but in the early 60's broke many axles and transmissions and that was with a flathead! A high school friend had a 46 Ford with an Olds-he had the record-12-13 transmissions and a few rearends.

 

Good to know.

 

early Bronco is only .75" wider and has 5.5 bolt pattern

 

Just about as hard to find. I’ll end up buying a new housing from John’s or Currie.

 

With modern axles installed and narrow tires I wouldn't be afraid of using a banjo... their weakest part is the axles IMHO.

 

This^^^^

 

Is there a way to have anything other than a single drive axle?

 

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...xels-and-limited-slip-centre-question.356501/

https://www.hotrodworks.com/

 

I was told that the modified banjo was good for about 300 hp without slicks. This will be interesting to read......I might have a line on a '64 ish Pontiac .

 

331 caddy, 39 trans, open drive banjo rear...lots of fun! Do it

Sent from my SM-G892A using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Early 9" 100000%

I love the Olds/Pontiac rears (and have one under my coupe) but you could build 2+ awesome 9"ers for the price and still hit the period... especially if it's early 60s.

 

I've been following this thread and thought I'd mention I've been doing almost the same thing here for the last few months., I had a nice '40 banjo I was going to use in my Vicky until I traded the 283 for a 389 tripower Pontiac that I went through with some really hot internals. I traded my banjo for a 9" pickup rear with a Detroit Locker and things have pretty much gone down hill from there. I went through the carrier and threw bearings and a set of gears in it along with narrowing it to 57" flange to flange. I thought I could get the axles resplined but they couldn't so now I have a new pair of Mosers on the way. There were a few brake parts missing that I couldn't get anywhere so now I'm getting new brakes so If anyone needs some almost loaded backing plates hit me up. They're free.

I think I have close to the national debt in it now so not exactly a cheap alternative I was looking for. (Actually pretty reasonable for what I have, I'm just always broke). In hindsight I should have probably grabbed a junkyard Camaro 10 bolt or something and it would have worked just as well. All depends on what you're looking for. This 9" will take a beating for sure and the cost will soon be forgotten. Just saying, nothing is going to be cheap anymore short of junk yard stuff that isn't a lot of fun changing out every few weeks.