Ford Exploder 8.8 rear axle....

Have you considered drums from a B body to have the BBP.

Its really worth making the 8.8 work over the 7.25 because you can hardly get any parts for the 7.25. Gear changes and costly and hard to come across good non grandma gears. A sure grip, forget it!!

Summit sells gears for the 7 1/4. I want the 8.8 for the strength and the limited slip feature. Around here, there are no pick and pulls and the ones up around Atlanta all want 300 plus. Screw that. I can spend less and have this 9" where I need it. Which is probably what's gonna happen.