Did some research but didn’t find much. Is an 8” out of a six cylinder maverick the same other than the four bolt axle as a v8 five bolt? My pops is wanting to find an 8” for his forty sedan. I know of a 4 bolt maverick rear end that would probably be almost free.
There is room to redrill the axles to 5 lug if you can find someone who doesn't mind fooling with that sort of thing. -Abone.
Back when I was out searching for 8" rears out of Mavericks it didn't look like the 6 cylinder cars had an 8" but some other puny rear end.
Pinto bobcat mustang II maverick Fairmont Fairlane ,zepher cougar Granada monarch & probably more use the same center section & axles , axle tubes on some of the compacts were smaller part of their length .
If you've got a 4 bolt wheel pattern on that rear end, it's probably a 7.5" and best left to Falcons and Mavericks. I've been looking for an 8" for quite a while and they are getting hard to find. Don't know if this will help but look at the 8.8's that are shown on this site? Lot of good information here. I can buy a good 8.8 in my area around $275 - $300. https://www.therangerstation.com/
Thanks, @deathrowdave . I learn something new every day around here. http://www.mustangii.org/ has a full page of info with rear ends listed by year, ring gear size, ratios and axle codes.
I recall something different about the housings on the M11? Think the tubes necked down heading towards the bearing ends?? The center section will swap into the other 8" housings, as I did that for my current coupe, 30 years ago!
I have to laugh at these " what came in what" discussions . In the late 70's my brother bought a 1/2 ton ford pickup , 351/c4/9" rear , my cousin bought a 1/2 ton ford van , 300" 6 /c6/ 8" POSI rear. Many times carmakers were just using up parts !
By the time you find axles to fit the free 8", or get the axles drilled for a 5 bolt pattern, you'll save money just grabbing an 8.8" Ford axle from the wrecking yard, and have the 5 bolt pattern, stronger axle, and likely the posi and perfect gear ratio he'll want. Building up the free 8" wont be worth the time and money.
If it uses the small bearing, 28 spline axles you should be able to get a set of cut to length axles, they’re pretty reasonably priced. Then you’ll need to get drums.
Mavericks did indeed use the 4 lug 8" behind the 170 and 200 sixes, the 250 six and 302 used a 5 lug 8". Centers are interchangeable, but the 4 lug axle tubes narrow down at the ends and have smaller bearings so a 5 lug axle will not fit unless you cut off the 4 lug ends and weld on the 5 lug ends. The 4 lugs also have smaller brakes. The smaller brakes would discourage it for me. Mustang II and Pinto 8" also have the necked down tubes and smaller brakes, plus are narrower. So, unless you want to re tube the 4 lug rear and add the bigger backing plates and brakes, I'd stick to the five lug rears. One thing to watch for if changing 8" center sections, early 8" filled through the back of the housing, later ones had the fill in the side of the center section. All will interchange, but you can end up with two fill points or nowhere to fill it!
Charts I've seen show the Maverick 8" as a couple of fractions narrower than the Pinto/MII rears. Also the Maverick and earlier Mustangs, etc. are 4 X 4 1/2" bolt circle while the Pinto and MII are 4 X 4 1/4".
I know where there are hundreds of 8.8's, in 4-6 different ratios, most with limited-slip differentials, two different diameters of drums, and even disc brakes, in several different widths, all of which can be OEM axle shaft swapped and narrowed.
Here's a crappy picture of a '64 Fairlane 8 inch and a four lug 8 inch I was told was from a Mustang II: Sorry for the poor picture, but they are behind twenty years' worth of junk in the cellar. It's hard to see, but the MII (foreground) necks down to about 2.38", the un-necked down part and the Fairlane tube is about 2.82" diameter. Backing plate to backing plate dimension is about the same, but the axle protrudes an inch or so more on the Fairlane unit. According to the above linked MII site, the 8" was available in a 2.40 ratio in 1975-76! Oh, the glimpse of the floor I got shows me that draining the oil would have been a good idea...
Maverick rear 56.5" WMS to WMS all years. The register was 2-3/8" til 1973, 2-3/4" after that. Got a couple stashed.
Funny story about the 4 bolt Falcon rear ends…… I had a ‘66 I took the 6 cylinder out and put a built small block that I sprayed the house down on it and never had an issue. I found an 8” out of a ‘67 Mustang and when I was at the drag strip after rebuilding and installing it I crawled the ring and pinion and destroyed a perfectly good floor pan and fuel cell. After that I built a 9” and never had an issue
i think they have 9 inch diameter brake drums that take a 1.80 inch wide shoe. the trouble is with a 56.5'' wide axle in a 35-40 frame is...... IF you plan on running a 7j wheel with a 4'' back splash you times 4'' by 2 and add them =8 then you minus that from 56.5 and you get about 48.5 inches then you measure the frame width at the rear and its 48 inches so you have a mere 1/8th of clearance clarence = not enough PLUS what you then need to take into consideration is the fender width is wider on a 38 39 40 than a 35 36 37 so you may not even be getting to the fender lip. or it will look daft IF you then run a 6j that is 7 inches across with a zero et its a 3.5'' back splash and you still really only get 1/2'' plus 1/8 20mm, you put a 20 mm bulge of tyre on and you are rubbing. you can get the 4 stsud steelies for them though, and run an oem cap i would double check its not a 1964 6 cylinder mustang 4 stud axle = 57.25'' wide you can tell an early one as they do not have the verticval ribs on the centre section if its a 73-78 mustang 2 axle they do have the vertical ribs if its a straight over tubes 8'' axle the tubes are 2 3/4'' it will be 5 stud. plus the 4 stud mustang 2 do run that finned drum notet the back plate is specific to the smaller 9'' drum and the bearing housing is too, although it uses the same small bearing, the bolt pattern to affix the back plate is different
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