Never in my life would I have thought it would come to this

If you're patient, you can find all of the parts for reasonable prices to put together a nice 8 3/4". So far, I have $600 into my latest build....

Housing....under a parts car I bought
Center...Dr Diff Auburn SG, 3:73, fresh and ready to go, $400 on CL
Axles....Yukon LBP, $150 on a FB Mopar site, almost brand new.

Just need brakes, and I probably doubled my money on the parts car in the first place!! It can still be done cheap, you just gotta be patient, and timely, and drop the cash when something comes up!