8.8 swap

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Ya get what ya pay for, I know, but I'm thinking about going the exact same route. I'm building a 1966 Barracuda, going for a kind of SCCA, road rally look and feel. I'm pricing 8 3/4 rears, fully aware my Dad built a 1965 Dart Gasser and with a few modifications to the perches and such, he was able to use a Ford 8.8 rear out of a Ford Explorer Sport. Thinking about biting the bullet and going pure Mopar (8 3/4 can be pricey) or going the same route my Dad did. I have found 8.8 rears as cheap as $130. I'm not building a SEMA car or anything like that, and am not worried about numbers matching, either. I'm dumping the tired 273 and putting a rather healthy 318 in it so I want to stay away from the 3.25 rear. I've found some ads that say "Limited Slip" and others that say "Open Differential" and I'm not quite sure which one would be equivalent to Posi. I'm going to get with the old man before I buy, but are there any other suggestions or input?
 
Nevermind - definitely want LIMITED SLIP. Looking for 8.8/3.73 limited slip. Explorer Sport Trac seems to be a good fit so far. Or, I just need to find a Chrysler 8.75 for about $200. ;0) Ha!

Barracuda66 said:
Ya get what ya pay for, I know, but I'm thinking about going the exact same route. I'm building a 1966 Barracuda, going for a kind of SCCA, road rally look and feel. I'm pricing 8 3/4 rears, fully aware my Dad built a 1965 Dart Gasser and with a few modifications to the perches and such, he was able to use a Ford 8.8 rear out of a Ford Explorer Sport. Thinking about biting the bullet and going pure Mopar (8 3/4 can be pricey) or going the same route my Dad did. I have found 8.8 rears as cheap as $130. I'm not building a SEMA car or anything like that, and am not worried about numbers matching, either. I'm dumping the tired 273 and putting a rather healthy 318 in it so I want to stay away from the 3.25 rear. I've found some ads that say "Limited Slip" and others that say "Open Differential" and I'm not quite sure which one would be equivalent to Posi. I'm going to get with the old man before I buy, but are there any other suggestions or input?
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Barracuda66 said:
Nevermind - definitely want LIMITED SLIP. Looking for 8.8/3.73 limited slip. Explorer Sport Trac seems to be a good fit so far. Or, I just need to find a Chrysler 8.75 for about $200. ;0) Ha!
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If you were local I'd give you one out from under a 68 Dart I have. A 8.8 that is.
 
Barracuda66 said:
Nevermind - definitely want LIMITED SLIP. Looking for 8.8/3.73 limited slip. Explorer Sport Trac seems to be a good fit so far. Or, I just need to find a Chrysler 8.75 for about $200. ;0) Ha!
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Ford calls their limited slip traction lok or trac lok so you might see it called that as well.
 
FWIW, I had really good luck finding our 8.8 on craigslist. We paid $120 for an 8.8 3.73 trak lok explorer rear with new rotors and pads. Than I went to a local pull your part, and picked up a second short side axle for $24 along with the C clip. I just need to go back and try to get the drive shaft adapter for the pinion yolk.

From calling around locally its going to cost around $150 to have the long side of the housing shortened to match the short side.

Hope this pricing outline helps. Eric L
 
its super simple to shorten your axel, rent a pipe cutter build a simple jig using two pieces of angle iron and weld her up
 
Thanks, all. I haven't picked one up yet, but we have plenty of pick-a-part junk yards and stuff here in Phoenix, too. (Been raining all week, so I know the yards will be a nasty, muddy mess). Not too much on Craigslist right now, but I'm still looking. Finding mostly F150 rears with 3.55 gears.
 
jrlegacy23 said:
I was in the same boat, I like low profile tires and nice big meats.
I did not roll the lip at all. I also ended up moving the rear back 1 3/8" to center the wheel in the wheel well. When I moved the rear back, the tire does get a little closer (3/8") to the quarter panel where it starts to cut back in to the lower quarter. A little rolling there will fix any potential issues.
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How exactly do you move the rear back?
 
redrilled the center hole on the spring perches and the shock mounts. It was pretty easy. I had to make a drive shaft anyway.
 
I did not take any pics, but this is a common practice among offroaders. Here is a pic of what I did. If you drill both spots 1 3/8" (I may have done 1 1/4", its been a while) forward from stock. If everything is done right, it moves the rear back that amount and the U-bolts line right up perfect:
 

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Sully_PA said:
Small issue today .....got all the mounts and brackets off the housing...opened it up to remove the c clips and axles and the damn 8mm bolt that holds the pin in broke off :( ....got a kit coming to try and remove it but what a *****...the one in the Junkyard I took the spare axle from came out no problem ...figures ....... seems it's a common occurrence ...man I hope I can get it out....
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Who makes the kit and where did you get the kit to extract the broken pin bolt? I had a bad axle bearing in an F-150 a few years ago and spent hours in vain trying to get one of those out and wound up getting another complete rear end and swapping it. I searched for answers and saw nothing about this kit.
 
This is great I didn't read through all of it but I was wandering can't you swap the long axle tube out with another short one instead of cutting the long one the tubes are not welded. Just looking into this $250.00 for 8.8 here is a hell of alot better than the $550 for just a housing. If anyone wants to complain about putting a ford part in your mopar tell them to Fork over the money. thanks to all
 
loganscuda said:
This is great I didn't read through all of it but I was wandering can't you swap the long axle tube out with another short one instead of cutting the long one the tubes are not welded. Just looking into this $250.00 for 8.8 here is a hell of alot better than the $550 for just a housing. If anyone wants to complain about putting a ford part in your mopar tell them to Fork over the money. thanks to all
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Yes, you can do that. A friend of mine did that, It was a real PITA. We used chains, torches, and bottle jacks to get the housing out. Welding was easier, no warping here.
 
Doosterfy said:
Who makes the kit and where did you get the kit to extract the broken pin bolt? I had a bad axle bearing in an F-150 a few years ago and spent hours in vain trying to get one of those out and wound up getting another complete rear end and swapping it. I searched for answers and saw nothing about this kit.
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There is no "kit" to extract this bolt. The only procedure I have heard of is to drill it, and still have to break it by driving the center pin with a hamer and a drift to shear the pin. The carrier housing may not servive this.
 
Anybody in the Auburn Al. or Columbus Ga. area with a rear end for sale? would take an 8.25.
 
Has anyone fabricated a pinion snubber for their 8.8? I've seen a few for the Mustangs for sale but nothing that looked useful for an 8.8 in an Abody. Got some really beefy spring perches designed to help with axle wrap so it might not be much of an issue, just thing ahead.

MRE-98107_HK_xl.jpg
 
Looks like you can make a custom pinion snubber work on that front pad too. Just need some plate, square tubing and bumper block.
 
You should also be able to use the signal from that speed / ABS sensor for an electronic speedo.
 
mguner said:
You should also be able to use the signal from that speed / ABS sensor for an electronic speedo.
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Really? That's cool, I hadn't thought of that. I left my sensor ring off when I swapped gears in my 8.8, Maybe it's worth reattaching. Kind of a PITA, but seems like it would be better than going with a GPS speedo.

I've got my tooth pattern looking good, backlash and pinion depth are good. I've got the perches, u-bolts, new springs, and new shackles. Still need to relocate the front spring hangers, weld the perches on, buy a new diff cover, and clean and paint. One step at a time! This isn't a terribly hard swap, but can be tedious.
 
Looks like a pretty high frequency signal but Ford uses it for both speed and ABS depending on model. If you needed a reference spike you could probably remove a tooth. KitCarlson would be an expert on this.
 
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