So I drove an hour to pick up this rear end which I was told its an 8.8 Posi. It was removed out of a 1989 lincoln mark 7 with an 5.0 HO engine. Can anyone tell what this is by the tag? I haven't got a clue. I looked online at all the axle ID charts but no tag is like this. It is definitly a posi but before I narrow this and center the pinion I need to verfiy and I havent been able to. Thanks! The tag reads as follows: 423F 3SL08A888H29
The S looks out of place, 3L08 is 3.08 ratio. L is limited slip. A88 is an 8.8 gear. 8H29 is a date code. August 29 1988
Man thats what I thought. I wonder if the S has to do with the pinion not being centered. It also had a double cardon joint on it. At least it is what I wanted and it has disc brakes. Thx for the info Relic!
Well I have dug more into what I got. So after taking some measurements during the day when I haven't been running my ass off, I was able to determine that I could not have gotten a better rear end for my 59 Apache pickup. I actually took a measurement from the stock 6 lug axle and it was 62 inches to the center of each tire. Then I measured to the center of each tire on the 5 lug lincoln rearend and it was 62 inches!! I was stoked! Now before everyone says hey the wheels offsets are possibly different, well that is true and I have not pulled the wheels off either one to measure but I will obviously before welding on it. Now with that said I at least know that it still gives me what I need width wise and it will fit between my bed apron and fender with little modification or change in wheel offset. I do not have to narrow it, just weld on perches or 4 link kit and go do donuts. I wanted to let everyone know that this is a great option to a gm 12 bolt and is its equivalent but more affordable option. It has an 8.8 ring gear, a posi and disc brakes. All achieved around $300 and they are everywhere.
Are your axle tubes 3.5 inches? The ones on this rear end are 3 inches and taper at the end. (Which is the downside if you plan to narrow I recon). I thought that maybe I could use the posi rear end and slap it in an exploder rear end. Reason I ask is I may eventually need to narrow this thing anyways to achieve the look I am going for and It would be noce to be able to use this posi unit.
exploder rears are 31 spline, most have 3:55-3:73 ratio, LSD.... early have big drums, late have disk. they have standard 3" tubes, and all that i have seen do neck down at the end.
That is the gear I have in my 51 chevy. 3.08 limited. Mine is an independant from a 95 t bird. I had a pegleg 3.27 straight axle from a 90 town car previously. They fit great and come with disc brakes. It is a tough axle and will take a lot of abuse. The only downer.....Pull a part sells them for about $100.
Mark VII used the same exact axle housing as the fox-body Mustang,tag should read 3L08 which means 3.08 gears and a posi (trac-lok). BTW,$300 is about 3 times what they go for around here.
Narrowing that rearend wil be somewhat of a challenge because it has C-clip type axles. This means either you will change the axle tube ends to accept 9" type axles and standard wheel bearings, or you will have your axles reground at the bearing area to accept C-clip eliminator kits. The S in the code doesn't mean anything about the driveshaft because that dept. of Ford didn't deliver the rearend with the driveshaft attached. The driveshaft was made by Dana Spicer for Ford. The pinion flange will accept the flange yoke at the rear of very many Mustangs and Rangers. 3 1/2" bolt circle with a 2" pilot diameter. You don't need to run a CV type shaft, don't sweat it.
I could have gotten an open diff exploder rear end for $100. The reason I probably paid more is the guy knew what it was I guess.
I narrowed my 8.8 3 inches this past winter. I wanted to get away from the c clip axle. I went with the Strange big Ford axle bearing weld on ends. Strange makes great products that work.They made custom length 31 spline axles for about $400.00 for the pair.
Just a reminder, if you have a 8.8 with disc brakes, the disc brake assemblies will prevent the axle flying out of the tube. Ergo, you won't have to do the c-clip elimination process.
You mite get lucky. I have heard of guys getting the short side axel out of another 8.8 and using that to center the pinion. Just have to weld other axel tube on. Not sure what width it would end up be worth measuring.
I wouldn't worry so much about centering the pinion especially since there is no trans tunnel clearence issues with a truck. The Ford 8.8 is almost a copy of the GM 12 bolt rear and just as strong. I run one from a 2001 Explorer in my '40 Chevy and it has worked great.
I called ET Automotive here in Dallas near my house and they said the would narrow and center the pinion on the housing for $120 if I cut off all the brackets which I did yesterday. They will cut/machine both axles for $175. I just picked up some 15x10 steel wheels with 3" backspace from work for FREE that will fit nicely and give me the look Im going for. Im going to do the measurements this weekend to get them as close to the fender as possible. Probably going to need to modify the inner apron a bit but thats fine. Can't wait to give this 8.8 some abuse!
Have you used ET Automotive before? Sounds like a great local resource for the D/FW crowd if they are able to do that kind of work for those prices reliably!?!?!
I am putting an 8.8 out of an explorer in my 50 ford sedan. I used two short axles and it comes out to 56 5/8" wide.
A buddy of mine has had 3 done by them. He runs a l0 second nova with one and is abusive. He said they did a good job. This will be my first narrow done by them.
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