alternatives to an 8.75- what about an explorer 8.8?

Best that I can recall, the early Stang/Falcon and the Grenade/Monarch twins had the same spring perch spacing as the A-body. The length is within a couple of tenths of A-body units. I don't know about 64 & later Comets or the Maverick/Comet twins of the 1970s. On the G/M, all I remember seeing had the 4.5"x 5 lug bolt pattern. As someone already pointed out, the others could be 4 or 5 bolt.

The best find would be a 9" out of a Lincoln Versailles. The axle fits at the spring perch and comes with disk brakes.