Some ideas and questions about the FORD 8.8 axle:

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Kern Dog

Kern Dog

Build your car to handle.
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I am a bit behind the curve on this but it sounds interesting.
I have read that the axles pulled from the Explorers have a long side and short side. It is a common thing to shorten the long side and use TWO short side axle shafts.
What about buying TWO complete axles and having the axle shop pull the short side from one and the long one from the other.....To end up with two stock appearing 8.8 axle assemblies? One would be close to the A-Body width and the other would be about an inch wider than a stock 68-70 B body unit.
I have looked at 5 or 6 Explorers so far and read the tags on the diff cover.
4 L 10 seems to mean a 4.10 with Limited Slip. 4 10 seems to be 4.10 open. 3 L 73 is a 3.73 Limited Slip. Were there any other ratios?
What is the common practice to connect the parking brake cables ?
 
Yes on the ratios 3.23, 3.55, 3.73, 3.91, 4.10. The L is for limited slip, or a Locker as Ford calls it.

Doing what your suggesting would be adding length to a short side tube. Easier to cut and shorten, than to lengthen one.

Yes you use 2 short side axles to shorten the axle to A body width. Cheapest way is hit the pick n pull. Remove the long side axle on the prized rear your intending on buying, load in a short side axle from another xploder 8.8, reattach the brakes, or better yet, temp install reconditioned brakes with new or turned rotors from yet another exploder in the wrecking yard to maximize what your buying. Pick n pulls dont care. Is it an axle complete flange to flange? Sure nuff.
 
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Thanks.
My idea was to juggle the parts to get 2 rear axles for two cars while leaving the axle housings looking unmolested.....sort of.
I can weld but I worry about warping or distortion of the axle tubes. It seems that if I welded the tube slightly of square, the bearing would wear too fast, the brake may overheat or the alignment of the car may be a problem.
 
Read my postings on the 8.8 sticky in axle and drivetrain section. Its towards the tail end of the thread. It goes step by step on how to do this. If you shorten it this way, it will be dead on, plus you will be able to grind smooth the weld and nobody will ever know it's been shortened.
 
Kern Dog said:
Thanks.
My idea was to juggle the parts to get 2 rear axles for two cars while leaving the axle housings looking unmolested.....sort of.
I can weld but I worry about warping or distortion of the axle tubes. It seems that if I welded the tube slightly of square, the bearing would wear too fast, the brake may overheat or the alignment of the car may be a problem.
Click to expand...
If you grind/clean the outside of the axle tube nice and smooth, then cut out the excess out (as straight a cut as possible), then lay the tubes in a piece of angle iron (large piece, like 4" X 4" angle iron)....the angle iron will keep everything dead straight if you clamp the pieces into the angle iron. Then you tack weld in three places on the exposed side, grind the tack welds smooth and rotate the tubes in the angle iron with clamps and tack weld the other side. By tack welding (only) you will not "pull" the tubes to one side like it would if you fully welded it and by keeping the tubes clamped into the angle iron it will keep the tubes straight. Be sure and bevel the cut edges to get a full weld and make sure to mark the "clock" position of the brake (flange) position before cutting so that you can locate the axle flange properly before welding. Once it's tack welded you can weld 100 percent without any distortion/warpage in the tubes. To be safe you can tack weld in numerous spots before fully welding the tubes. Just be sure to grind smooth and rotate so that your not continuously welding on one side only.


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https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/33366667?fromRR=Y
 
I have 2 pieces of 3" C thats 3/16" thick, think I have em cut 15" long.
 
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Kern Dog said:
Thanks.
My idea was to juggle the parts to get 2 rear axles for two cars while leaving the axle housings looking unmolested.....sort of.
I can weld but I worry about warping or distortion of the axle tubes. It seems that if I welded the tube slightly of square, the bearing would wear too fast, the brake may overheat or the alignment of the car may be a problem.
Click to expand...
I got two mostly because I found a second really nice low mileage one with excellent brakes and needed a second short axle. I hadn't considered turning this second one into a longer diff. Good thinking. Might work well in another vehicle like a truck that needs the longer one.
As far as connecting the parking brake one side connected fine and for the other I fabricated an adapter bracket because the cable was a little short.
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Found a place that would custom make make me a pair of plug n play rear circuit parking brake cables for my sons 69 notch. Mopar in the front, explorer in the back. I think they have them on file. The lengths fit 67-72 A body. That's also in my posts on the 8.8 sticky. Price wasnt really expensive either.
 
Son of a beeech...I looked at your contributions in that thread. You really went into detail and seem to be well informed. I got dizzy at all the info and had to click out because I was getting overloaded.
 
I will have to look at your posts in small doses. I get overwhelmed with some subjects when there is a LOT of info to get through.
 
Today it occurred to me that instead of buying two axle assemblies and having the tubes swapped, I could shorten one for the A body width and take that section I cut out and weld it in the other axle to make it equal long side lengths.
Surely easier than having the tubes removed and rewelded onto other center sections!
 
I got two complete rearends for 200 bucks. I'm using one for parts and the other for shorting the housing. The benefits of this is if I eff up welding I have a spare housing !
 
I did an 8.8 for a Ford project of mine and didn't go the way the internet says to go. The first thing is there are no C clip eliminator for the Explorer 8.8 so if your going to hit the strip you might have a problem.
The way I solved this was to have quick performance in Ames Ia narrow the housing and weld 9" billet ends on, they also welded the tubes to the center. I also purchased there axles for a total of $700.
Best deal ever. I took the axle to them striped of brackets sandblasted and washed, I had it back in three days, there welds are beautiful.

I've had countless assembly's narrowed for customers and new of there work so doing mine wasn't a stretch.
 
My understanding is the Ranger 8.8 is a direct bolt in swap and has the pinion centered correctly. Why not just use that?
 
If one has the limited slip diff and a 3.73 ratio, I can live with drum brakes!
 
RustyRatRod said:
My understanding is the Ranger 8.8 is a direct bolt in swap and has the pinion centered correctly. Why not just use that?
Click to expand...

the Ranger rear axle is not a direct bolt in --spring pads have to be changed -- 1993 and up Ranger width is 58 inches overall -- Explorer width is 59 inches overall -- pinion offset is the same towards passenger side on both rear axles -- Ranger axles are 28 spline ( except for a few special 4x4's which are 31 spline ) very few have a traction -lok -- Explorers are 31 spline and majority have a traction -lok --
1-the stock A body housing is 58 5/8 inches wide axle flange to axle flange WMS (wheel mounting surface ) -
pinion offset -axle flange (WMS ) to center line of pinion--- passenger side - 28-3/16 inches --- driver side 30-7/16 inches
2- the stock Explorer housing is 59 inches wide axle flange to axle flange (WMS)
pinion offset - axle flange (WMS ) to centerline of pinion -- passenger side - 27-1/2 inches --- driver side 31-1/2 inches
3- the stock ranger housing ( 1993 and up ) is 58 inches wide axle flange to axle flange (WMS )
pinion offset - axle flange (WMS) to centerline of pinion -- passenger side -- 27 inches --- driver side 31 inches
4- the stock 1986- 93 Mustang housing is 59 inches wide axle flange to axle flange (WMS )
pinion offset - axle flange (WMS) to center line of pinion -- passenger side 28-7/8 inches --- driver side 30-1/16 inches

from the above the 1986 -93 Mustang rear axle is closer to fitting an A-body car as far as pinion offset and overall width is concerned -- but axles would have to be upgraded to 5 bolt in either 28 or 31 spline -- they come stock with 28 spline traction -loks but no real performance gear ratios .
if you are not concerned with the pinion offset ( although you should be ) use the Ranger or Explorer rear axles --- BUT driveshafts and u-joints tend to last longer when everything lines up correctly .
 
See my chicken scratch in pic below. When you shorten a stock Explorer long tube you remove 2&7/8" or 2.875" to center it up. That will make it 56.0" wide from axle to rotor mating flange to flange with a more centered pinion.

Mopar A body 8.75 being 57.625" based on my A body axle mock up. In this case, the shortened explorer axle will be a little bit narrower than the mopar axle. That may not necessarily be a bad thing

The total difference between the 2 widths between stock mopar A body, and narrowed explorer axle from brake drum and disc mating flanges on each axle is only 1.625" . Divided in half, that's only .8125" or 13/16" narrower on each side. That's only a tick more than 3/4". Guys are cutting em down and using em with stock spring locations as well

I saw one on a build thread under an early A. Seemed to fit just fine.

I mocked up both axles, and on the mopar 8.75 I added in the drum backing plate thicknesses to the dimension to get an accurate number, and on the Ford 8.8 I used the cross pin and bumped the axles against it to get that number accurate as well. The numbers i am showing on the drawing are drum mating flange to flange, and disc mating flange to flange dimensions on the axle shafts. I feel this is an accurate set of numbers, plus the disc rotors mating flange thicknesses are thicker than the 10x2.50" drum mating flanges and will probably close that number closer to 3/4" or less difference between the 2 axles per side with the Ford Explorer 8.8 being the narrower of the 2.

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what i was trying to point out in reply # 21 -- is the pinion offset --- yes they are being used in A-bodies but your driveshaft is not running true to the stock factory location --
 
john-9 said:
what i was trying to point out in reply # 21 -- is the pinion offset --- yes they are being used in A-bodies but your driveshaft is not running true to the stock factory location --
Click to expand...

That may be true if your putting it under there without cutting down the long tube to center it up. However when you cut down the long tube and center it up the pinion will run in about the same place that an 8.75 pinion will be, give or take maybe 1/4". This amount wont be enough to wipe out u joints in short order.

An 8.75 pinion as well as all the rest of them is offset to the right of center as well. People put more loading on a u joint than that possible 1/4" deviation by jacking up or lowering the *** end.
 
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