Advice on replacement rear end for A 51 Mercury

Hello,
Wanted to ask for some advice on replacing the rear end on my 51 mercury that I purchased without a rear end.

My question is does the rear end specs have to be exact (according to various internet sources, stock 49-51 Mercs have a rear end width of 61 inches)? If not how many inches of play is advisable (I want to at some point be able to put skirts over the rear tires)? Ideally I would like to replace with a 9inch ford rear end to keep the same bolt pattern with the stock front end.

Anyone out there replace the rear end on their 49-51 Mercury? If so, what worked?


Thanks for the help,
Jesse

 

a 61" Ford 9" rear should not be too hard to find. i have one here, but it has 5 on 4-1/2" bolt circle. i think it is out of an early 60s Galaxy. i believe the `51 Mercury is 5-1/2"

a few years back i helped a friend with a `51 Merc and i think we got a rear out of an early 70s Econoline van. it was the perfect width to use the stock wheels and had 5-1/2" bolt pattern. the car was lowered with blocks and had skirts. one bad thing was the gears , i think they were like 3.70 or something. that could be changed easy

don't hold me to the year of the van , it's been while....but i'm pretty sure it was an econoline. anyway , that gives you a place to start. get a tape measure and head out to the junkyard

 

Search craigs list,I found a guy that has so many 9 in Ford s,he regularly scraps a ton of them at a time. They are out there.

 

I have a stock rearend I can sell you. I'm just north of you about an hour. Jay

 

thanks guys for all the advice... I actually ended up finding one on craigslist. Its off of a 60's ( I believe 64) thunderbird.

BTW..can u change ur account settings on this forum...so that u get notified when people post on ur threads? Or do u simply have to keep periodically checking on ur prev threads?

 

Click on Manage Your Account. Then choose Edit Options you desire.