Need Help seting up 9"

I have a ford 9" that im stuffing under my car and I need some help with lining it up. Heres what I have, Custom 2x3 box frame z'ed 15in in the back, the body is a 30 tudor sedan channeled 3". rear end is a ford 9 that im using a triangulated 4 link and coil overs. Im not sure what its out of but I think its out of a truck with 5x5.5 bp and is 58in wide I think

Heres my problem I centerd the rearend under the frame to where the wheels are the same distance from the frame on each side. when I do that the pinion is off centerd as it should be but the pumpkin is also off centered which is putting the pinion way off the pass side. with the drive shaft in it, it is at one hell of an angle and is really going to crowd the passenger with the tunnel.

Does anyone have any suggestions on it? leave it, find a different rear end, set it up different or what? I really don't want to cut up the housing because I fear finding axles would be a pain/expensive

 

I have stock 61 and 62 f100s with 9 inch and they are both like that and I think alot of ford trucks are, you might try finding one from a mustang.

 

Pic's would help.

 

If you don't wamt to cut the rear, about all you can do is set the rear to trans angle correctly and don't worry about the offset. That what Ford Motor company did on most all rears fron 56 to about 1980..

If you decide to cut the long side axle/housing. Leadmine products sells axles with about 10" of spline on them,. Cut to length with a chop saw and your rear is centered. Just like my Gasser. http://www.leadmineproducts.com/servlet/StoreFront

 

Early Bronco housings are more centered, 1966-1977. Unless you luck onto one, they are hard to find and rather expensive.

 

I don't have any pics on hand but I can get some tomorrow

 

Here are a few pictures of what im talking about, any suggestions on what you would do?

 

This is a centered pinion setup, your brakes probably wont work as this uses the later model big bearing ends, they sell brakes too, disc or drum, you would also need a 31 spline carrier.

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Bare-56-Inch-Centered-9-Inch-Ford-Housing-w-Axles,50975.html

 

correction:
The pumpkin is centered in the housing, which puts the pinion offset 2-3/8" from center

 

I have seen this before your rearend is from a 4x4 truck the drive lines on those are off centered to line up with the transfer case witch is also off center. so that the drive line is straight forward. you can cut down the long side axle tube to center up the yoke then buy cut to fit axles out of speedway they have 6" of splines you order the one close to your length then cut it to fit or find a rear out of a two wheel drive. or car. Dodge 8 3/4 are the same thing off centered my buddy put one together and ran it that way vibrates like hell. and kicks hard to the ditch when you lite them up.

 

No need, not necessary. Offset pinions are fine. Tons of vehicles have them. I build them all of the time. Run it.

If it vibrates, you set it up wrong. It is just that simple. The pinion and the transmission should be parallel, when viewed from the side, and above.

 

Ok if i leave it as it is how should i degree the rear end? up, down, level?

Really my biggest concern is the driveshaft tunnel, if i leave it at an angel like this it is really going to crowd the passenger and i think it look weird with a crooked tunnel and since the body is channeled over the frame there isnt much room in these tiny cars to build a wide strait tunnel

 

If you need it centered for a smaller tunnel, then do that. That's a legitimate reason.

 

Holds true, regardless of offset, or centered. If the transmission output shaft runs 3º down, then set the pinion 3º up. Your number may be slightly different, but make them match.

 

If you want the drive shaft centered in the tunnel, you'll need to find a centered pinion housing setup of correct width, or get housing and cut to suit. You'll have more flexibility by starting with a housing that's too wide and then cut to get what you want. The degree of flexibility depends if you are working around existing axles from your collection, or if you have news ones made. The new "cut-to-length" axles give you some options short of fully custom axles.

 

+2 on this I think all the F100s with the 9" were setup like this. From the rear it looks nicer because the pumpkin is centered, but it will offset the pinion. In the truck setup the axles should be equal length. Is the bolt pattern important? The Trucks were 5 on 5.5" circle. The cars had the pinion centered for the tunnel so the pumpkin is offset and axles are different sizes. The bolt pattern is different as well.

 

ok i understand, that makes sense

bolt pattern is not that important this rear end has 5x5.5 but im running chevy bp disk up front so im not real concerned with bp. i am also not worried about the pumpkin being centered for looks since you will not be able to see the rear end with the body on it

 

I would look for a chevy 10 or 12 bolt such as 74-81 camaro, I think that might be better for drive shaft being centered and bolt pattern will match the front as well.

 

A freind used a dif out of a Ford van and had the same issue, he used another short axle from the passenger side and shorten the drivers side tube, work great

 

My 29 is channeled 3" also and I didn't have to have a tunnel. It (mine has plenty of clearance. Your frame looks to be z'd about the same as mine also. My floor sets right on top of the frame. If your floor is flat, yours should be about the same. I did have to tunnel the fuel tank. Guess maybe your engine and tranny could be set higher than is mine.

 

Most people you ask are going to have a different answer my one cent it's your Ride and your build if your not happy with it then your the one that has to live with with it.Always go with your gut if you don't think it's right it's not.

 

i originaly had a 10 bolt for it but my problem with it is the axle tubes are pretty small and hard to find brackets for it but my main reason is i am running a triangulated 4 link and dont feel safe welding to the cast housing for the upper links. I thought about building a custom tube that ran over the pumpkin and weld to each axle tube and run my upper links off that but idk, that may be an option that i go back too

the frame has 4" of ground clearance roughly and the motor and trans are set up pretty high so my carb is about even with the top of my cowl. So with that set up my drive shaft actualy sits up higher than the floor pan does

 

My 4 link on my 9" has a plate that is bolted to my diff then runs to a bar in the front.I got this one a long time ago off R&C.Im sorry I don't know how to download pics here but I did just put a shot of it in my pics.Its the very first one I hope it helps.