i am looking for your thoughts on weather or not to narrow a ford 8.8? I am building a full fender four door slant window. I have the 8.8 already and it matched the blot pattern of the front.
Read up on them here https://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/Ford-8_8-axle.shtml There is a cheap way to narrow them but i don’t remember the details. Basically you grab another short axle and cut one tube the corresponding amount. I think it’s about two inches shorter. more info https://thefabricatorseries.com/bui...d-explorer-88-rear-axle-part-1-prelude-and-qa
You didn't say how you were going to drive it. The 8.8 is fine as is if you are not going to drive it hard. Most are 28 axle splines, but upgrades are available. The 8.8 has "C" clip axles, but an eliminator kit is available but not necessary for normal use. The cost effective way to narrow one is if the dimensions work out so you can narrow it to use a short side axle. If not figure out what dimension you need and see if you can find a factory axle that will work since they came in many widths. That way you'll have the "C" clip axle end with a custom axle.
Alot of them are 31 spline and stronger than a 9 inch, and a dana 44. I have had one in my 37 daily driver/drag racer running 11.3 @120, side stepping the clutch at 4000 rpm, (yes rpm, not rpm's). They are plenty strong and parts are available everywhere. Tony
Well, is it too wide? Maybe provide some details like, oh I dunno, like maybe what car and what the 8.8 came from? But while I have you here, should I wear my Ariats or Wolverines to work today?
I'd say the first thing you need to do is decide what size tires you want to use and then mount them and set them under the car. Then you can decide if you need to narrow the rear end, or use different backspacing on the wheels.
I second what @mcmopar said. I had one in my OT 5.0 and launched at 3500 with SLICKS on many dragstrip runs and it held up fine.
Only early 8.8" from 2 wd vehicles had 28 spline axles. The 4x4 and later cars, trucks, and SUV's were 31 spline, and also have huge diameter axles! I've used the 31 spline in numerous builds, and even my '63 Falcon, with 468 BBC and 4 speed couldn't break it doing hard wheels up launches with slicks at the drags. The 31 spline 8.8" Ford is stronger than the 12 Bolt GM that it is a copy of. Larger axles, and larger axle tubes. Narrowing one 2 7/8" and grabbing a short side axle out of an open 8.8" axle will be all you need to narrow it from 58.5" drum axle to 55 5/8" axle.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/the-mild-custom-transformation-mamas-55.1119265/page-4 Bottom of the page.
I didn't mean to imply that the 8.8" rear does not have potential or shouldn't be used. But since Ford used them since 1977 in 20+ vehicles, not very 8.8 that someone has is a 31 spline Explorer or Mustang rear. Like with the 9" axle, there is a fairly large range of strength in the 8.8". A generic 8.8 with the 1310 U-joint flange and 1.18" diameter 28 spline axles just isn't as stout as the 31 spline unit. The OP didn't say what he had and was mainly asking about narrowing. I am aware of more than one guy getting steered wrong in that process by overlooking the fact that you can't lob off an axle end spline to get an axle to fit due to the "C" clip. Just like the 9", most of the guys that I know that consistently beat up on a 8.8" use a fair amount of aftermarket parts.
Without knowing more details of your project, what I can add is that narrowing the 8.8 by putting a second short axle in is a fun little project. I used a 94 ford Explorer rear end, which is 31 spline and narrowed it and put it in my 51 Ford Deluxe. I've kept my car drum brakes for now and 94 was the last drum brake year, so it was a piece of cake. One thing to check is the axle hub diameter versus the wheel center bore on your classic rims. My rim center bores were slightly smaller than the Ford explorer's axle hubs. I'm lucky that they just barely fit in my 11" lathe and I could turn them down, otherwise you'd have to pay a shop to do it.
We narrow a lot of 8.8 for use in the Fox body cars. We install 9 inch ends with aftermarket axles a good variety of brakes are avail. And elimates the c.clip
Looking under my 92 Ranger with a 4.0 the 8.8 looks almost as big as the Dana 60 under the 3/4 ton GMC sitting next to it. Still back to the narrow the rear end thing. The Ranger station link that Scotty T posted shows that there are 4 widths of 8.8 rear ends under Rangers and Explorers. Axle Width Differences: 1990-1992 Ford Ranger 8.8-Inch Axle - 56.50 inches 1993-2009 Ford Ranger 8.8-inch Axle - 58.50 inches 2010-2011 Ford Ranger 8.8-inch Axle - 58.50 inches * 1991-2003 Ford Explorer 8.8-Inch Axle - 59.625 inches I'd say that one needs know the width of the A in the wheel wells plus how far the tires stick in from the wms to figure out how wide wms to wms you need.
Ford explorer 8.8". If you shorten one axle tube (driver's side) and use another short axle, it'll be about right width. My 97 Explorer is 3.73:1, 31 splines with traction lock and disc brakes and good with an OD transmission. OEM track, wheel mounting to wheel mounting surface width: 59.5" Drivers side axle shaft length: 30.688" Passenger side axle shaft length: 27.813" Axle shaft length difference: 2.875" This means cutting 2.875" out of the drivers/long side axle tube, resulting in an overall axle width of about 56.5". Conventional pinion flanges and other ratios are readily available. Plenty of information out there, http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/Ford-8_8-axle.shtml
The 8.8 housing is quite large. I had to massage the floor in my Falcon when replacing the 6-3/4" rear. I filled it with drop-in alloy axles. They are substantially stronger than the factory 31-spline axles. The total cost was less for the 1991 Ranger rear, and both of the alloy axles, than what an Explorer axle retails for out my way.
I tried to pull together all the 8.8 info I could find into one thread. Maybe it might help. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/8-8-rear-end-for-a-hotrod-info.1203372/
The Jalopy Journal
