What rear assembly is best but cheap

john zemba · January 23, 2005, 10:57:42 AM

I know I want an 8 or 9 inch rear end assembly but from where and how long? I reallt do not want to cut one down if this is possible. I am told the older broncos will fit ,but are they big or strong enough?Am I looking for 54 to 57 inches in length. The car is a Model A 29 tudor.

enjenjo · January 23, 2005, 12:41:27 PM

If you go here, http://enjenjo.com/9inch.html we have info on rear axle lengths. You should find something there that will work for you. The Bronco rear is plenty strong for your use. Others that will fit are 57 to 58 Ford, 65 to 66 Mustang, and 70 to 78 Granada and Maverick.

Dave · January 23, 2005, 06:54:33 PM

Quote from: "john zemba"I know I want an 8 or 9 inch rear end assembly but from where and how long? I reallt do not want to cut one down if this is possible. I am told the older broncos will fit ,but are they big or strong enough?Am I looking for 54 to 57 inches in length. The car is a Model A 29 tudor.

If you can find a maverick or comet 70 to 74 they fit great. Ive built 3 cars with the maverick 8 inch rears. I found that around 74 they stopped putting the 6 cylinder rear in the 6 cylinder cars and all i found was 8 inch rears. If you can get a maverick or comet rear you can run 15x8 3/2 backspace wheels on the rear with 235x75 15's if your running fenders and they will fit nice.
Dave

MO_JUNK · January 25, 2005, 09:42:20 AM

Quote from: "john zemba"I know I want an 8 or 9 inch rear end assembly but from where and how long? I reallt do not want to cut one down if this is possible. I am told the older broncos will fit ,but are they big or strong enough?Am I looking for 54 to 57 inches in length. The car is a Model A 29 tudor.

John, I ran an early Bronco 9" in a 32 roadster. The rear is a good width for Model A's and 32's. It had the 5 on 5 1/2 early bolt pattern that matched the front early ford pattern and I ran steelies all around. I ran a stock frame with a 32 spring and a stock 32 gas tank. The rear was not centered but was not in clear view. I bought the complete rear drum to drum for $100.00 and it was a 3:50:1 posi. I am now building a 26' Ford modified. It has a Model A rear crossmember and Model A spring. I wanted the pumpkin centered for a good look. I did not want to spend the big bucks for narrowing and centering an 8" or 9" ford. I am using an 8 3/4 Mopar rear from a later 60's "B" body (Coronet, Satellite, Belvidere, etc.) The rear is real clean, centered with the spring, and gives a good look. It has 5 on 4.5" bolt pattern. The Mopar has huge axles. And, yes the 8" Granda and Fairlane rears are a good fit. I think Mavericks are the narrowist. Sam

DW · January 25, 2005, 08:17:21 PM

In my 28 'A' I used a 74 maverick 8". It is 56 1/2" and the model 'A' original is 56". I picked 2 of mine up, drum to drum, at a pick you parts for $15 Canadian but I am not sure if you have this option. Salvage yards that removed them for you wanted 180 to 200 bucks.

flt-blk · January 26, 2005, 11:31:57 AM

Same here, Model A with fenders... 8" out of a 76 Maverick V6 that was
punched in the front.

There was a lower mile one there, but it had a bent rear wheel, no sense
in taking a chance something else got bent. $150 US and I spent another
$100 on new seals and bearings pressed in.

john zemba · January 26, 2005, 04:22:46 PM

I must have a dozen junk yards around but anymore they do not keep any thing that is older than 15-20 years old.So finding a Maverick will be looking in someones back yard

Kidney · January 26, 2005, 06:50:36 PM

Depends on how much of the rear you want...I know a few sites that sell EB 9" empty housings for around 100 dollars or so. A few sites sell the whole 9' and 3rd member pretty cheap as well. Alot of us Bronco guys pull out our 9" and switch for the Big Bearing version 9" so there is alot of Small Bearing 9" to be had cheap. If you want a few links let me know...

purplepickup · January 26, 2005, 06:51:01 PM

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Ford 8.8 rears as an inexpensive, reliable, and easy to find rear end. A lot of them are positrac and they come in some nice ratios. I don't know widths of different applications but I do know that some are quite narrow. I think early 90's Rangers are 56.5" flange to flange. I think some Mustang and Explorer are fairly narrow too. They even put them in RWD Volvo's from the 70's thru the 90's.

Does anyone know where there is a width chart for 8.8 rears?

john zemba · January 26, 2005, 08:15:41 PM

I was going to ask abou the ranger, they measure about right. Now I know where a few of those are. thanks fellow I am printing these out so I have for future reference. May be refering back again

Canuck · January 27, 2005, 11:58:28 AM

Question for MO_JUNK, you wouldn't happen to have a measurement from axle end to axle end for that Mopar diff would you?

Inquiring minds need to know

Thanks

EMSjunkie · January 27, 2005, 01:49:12 PM

Quote from: "purplepickup"I'm surprised no one has mentioned Ford 8.8 rears .

Does anyone know where there is a width chart for 8.8 rears?

Got one under my 34 coupe. it came out of a 91 mustang LX 5.0
drum with 4 lug bolt pattern.

56.5 inches drum to drum. limited slip, best as I can remember the ratio is 3.43:1 I think.

ranger axles will fit, but have to be both drivers side.
got that info here

Vance

john zemba · January 27, 2005, 02:51:14 PM

when you say ranger axles will fit you mean take the axles out of the mustangs and use the rangers axles?

EMSjunkie · January 27, 2005, 06:47:22 PM

Quote from: "john zemba"when you say ranger axles will fit you mean take the axles out of the mustangs and use the rangers axles?

if you want 5 lug bolt pattern you have to change the axles.
I goofed up in my earlier post, my rear end is 59.5 inches hub to hub.
sorry :oops: one too many blows to the head as a youngster

my rear end has 28 spline axles. you can also use
86 to 97 Aerostar passenger side axles
the years on the ranger are 83 to 92 drivers side.

hope that helps

Vance

EMSjunkie · January 29, 2005, 08:07:40 PM

Finally got a decent day to get out in the shop.
took the rear cover off my 8.8" rear end expecting to find clutch packs, since it was reported to be a limited slip,, but found a regular looking carrier, but it has a flat "S" shaped piece of I'm assuming spring steel in between the spider gears. so is it a limited slip? not sure now.
the I.D. tag has two rows of numbers/letters

the top row reads S 217 A
the bottom row reads 3L 08 88 0G25

can anyone here de-code it for me?
I was told when I bought it it was an 8.8 inch, limited slip, 3:43 ratio.

Thanks for the help

Vance