Technical 50 shoebox rear axle advice

Hi all I'm currently doing a 50 shoebox .I'm putting a 350/350 combo and need some advice on the rear axle can I use the stock axle or is that not a good idea I will mainly just be cruising not racing would like to cruise on the motorway at 70 -80 at a decent amount of revs not screaming it's nuts off any advise is welcome thanks

 

I am not sure how much abuse the original rear will take. I think that a '57/8 rear would probably come pretty close width wise and should get you a I fair cruising gear.

 

First off you likely would want to find a rear that matches your front lug pattern.
Best bang for the buck IMO would be late 70's early 80's GM mid size car 10 bolt with around 3.08-3.42 gears. I didn't find a width for your stock rear end in the magic googler. Another likely candidate is likely going to be an s-series truck. They are fairly narrow parts are cheap and they are everywhere.

 

My '50 Ford has a V8 Maverick rearend. Perfect width and maintains the 5-4 1/2 bolt pattern.

 

Probably has a 2.79 or 3.00 gear...Should work good for weight of car and engine size.. An od auto maybe a little better but I'd run the trans you got and decide from there..The stock rear is around 3.54 unless it was an OD trans then it would be 4.11 but in OD brings it down to around 2.87...

 

Chevy S10 rears bolt in - on glove box door there is info as to the gear ratio in donor truck. also, look for info on Ford 8.8 widths/ratios

 

I narrowed an explorer 8.8. Fit good. And parts are cheap and tough.

 

What years of s10 will fit? Live in Sweden so we have not some Mavericks here to take the rear end from.

 

Two wheel drive S-10 rears ends are a bit narrow at 54", 2 to 2.5" narrower than the stock shoe box. The four wheel drive rear ends are too wide. And the S-10 have 4.75 wheel bolt circle that does not match your front.

The "Goldilocks" rear axle has been the Maverick, which you indicate is not common there. Do you have a population of Ford Ranger pickups? I believe it is the late '80s models that have 7.5" and 8.8" ring gear diameter, depending on engine and driveline and are in the desired 56"/56.5" width and have the 4.5" wheel bolt circle. Later model Rangers had 58" width. Ford axles also are (originally) provided with a metal tag, held on by a rear cover bolt, that indicates ratio, an"L" if if it's limited slip and the R&P diameter. Example: 3. 55. 7 5. Or. 3 L 55. 8 8

I found with my '50 Shoebox that the rear wheel wells are somewhat narrow and axle width, wheel width and tire size all matter to keep things from rubbing.

Ray

 

Maverick V8 rear in my '51 I own now. I had a Mustang 9" in my '49 I sold awhile back

 

I used the rear from a 65 Falcon in my 51 I also did a tech article with a lot of the information when I did it you may find some of it useful
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/shoebox-rear-end-swap-to-8-ford-info.620102/

 

Ok I got a question here I see the bolt pattern all over the board here. Are we talking shoe box as in Ford or ???????

 

That's what I'm assuming the OP is referring to due to the "50" in the thread title. I've heard tri 5 Chevies sometimes called shoe boxes as well but to me a "Shoe Box" is a 49 -51 Ford.

 

Yep me too. I never heard a tri five chebby called a shoe box until the '90s when magazine writers were all teenagers. That is why I have tried to suggest Ford rears.

In the last few years I have heard one of everything called a show box.

 

Yeah, there's a lot of show boxes out there...

 

LOL I'll blame that one on auto correct and now I can't change it without making your post look out of place. But let me ad this, Hustler magazine has always had show boxes in it.

 

When I first read it I assumed he was talking Ford due to his avitar being a 1950 Ford. I didn't post any advice being someone had already posted my opinion.
Where did that guy go anyway?
The Wizzard

 

It was a drive by posting. LOL

 

LOL..Good one Beaner! Hustler, wow that still around? Yeah, you right there..

 

Hi all sorry been away yeah when I say shoebox I mean 49 -51 ford I've always know them as that lol

Thanks for all your advise people it's given me alot think about I'm thinking I may go for a ford 9 inch I can get one the right width without the hassle of narrowing it and I've used them alot before and like them

Again thanks for all the advice

 

I have a Maverick rear axle too.Like my neighbor dlandberg,we dont have much Mavericks in here Finland either.I guess there wasnt a big market for cars like that in 70's in here.
So i bought it from US,without the differential.I had one extra 8" Ford pumpkin,so finding that wasnt an issue.

 

89 to 91 Ranger 8.8 is the correct width. Lots of ratios to choose from, 10 inch brakes and 4 1/2 inch bolt circle with 5 studs. requires moving the spring pads.

 

I was told by my old local Mercury expert that the '49-51 Merc axle is totally fine for a 350/350 or 350/700r4 build. He runs all of his many mercs 80mph+ down the freeway with stock rear end. I don't know if the ford and Merc axle is the same but if they aren't you could try one of those? I run a 9" ford in my 350/350 Merc but I did have to narrow it 4".

 

I have used a Ford 8" from a US granda from 75 but i have to narrow it to fitt fat tires on 8,5 american racing type d

 

There is only one shoe box: 1949-1951 Ford.

Everything else is something else.

 

It doesn't have to be a v8 rear end. the early 4 bolt rears are no good but after 72 or so any 6 cyl rear was a 8 inch with 5 bolts on the axle. Just look for a 5 bolt on any maveric or comet.

 

Mercury rearend from 49-51 is different from ford. Mercurys used a dana 41 ? rear end. Not sure what rear end ford used, but it is different. Fords also had 4.5 bolt pattern, where as mercs had 5.5 bolt pattern.

 

I used a rear axle out of any g-body chevy ! Mine is out of a Monte Carlo . I redrilled the axles and drums to fit ford . If you have access to a mill this is a easy and cheap rear end swap with a little work.