Q- A 9'' in an A. Centered housing,or Centered pinion? More than likely the housing in my eyes..... The driveshaft will see the angle. Not channeled=Highboy style.Centered housing is what I'm thinking. No debate on different rears please. Experience preferred. All the benefit's of the 9'' are my goal here. Will have to cut a housing to suit, then axle's,drums...... Seeking experience, and not opinion..... I have a 48 truck banjo , and a 50 Merc rear, which are exactly the same width,(for what I need) but eventually going to throw some power at it. Once I melt things in, I don't want to go back. Thoughts? Thanks-Kid.
Confused. You mention 9" but then something about a 48 banjo and a 50 Merc, neither of which is a 9". So, if you want a centered 9", I put one (a 57 Ford wagon) under my Deuce years ago. I shortened the long side so I could use 2 short side axles. Those 57's have a smooth rear housing with no drain plug showing, if that's important to you. The 50 Merc is a Dana 44, and of course the banjo is a totally different animal.
My 48 is the correct width= wms 2 wms ...... My merc is give or take +/- 1/4, so both would work, but not strong enough ....... My Q was a centered housing, or a centered pinion. And the merc(mine) is a 41 series........ I will not be using either- just a worthless reference to sizes, and what I have in stock. I'm going with a 9, and wanted some feedback with A owners who have used them, and their trials/tribulations...... And thanks..... I know what the differences are, and what is what..........
I'd center the housing, The U joints don't really give a rip if they move a bit more when the drive shaft turns. It's funny but you don't read about stock Ford Cars or trucks eating Up U joints But put a driveshaft at a slight angle in a hot rod an half the rodders around **** their pants coming up with reasons that it shouldn't be done.
I have used the early 9" Ford Bronco,it's the right width and already has the 5 x 5 1/2 bolt pattern.HRP
I cut mine down myself on my roadster pickup project.. I went for centering the pinion.. After its all said and done I wish I would have centered the housing.. It makes it nice that the driveshaft is directly in the center(actually off an 1/8" one way) but being full fendered I notice the the housing being offset quite a bit more then I do the driveshaft being centered
Housing looks centered to me. If those diagonals on the ch***is are right, the pinion looks to be offset 1" to the right.
I run the early Bronco in my 32 but I did cut mine to have 2 short side axles , no need to width was correct , I just wanted to run a larger tire under the fenders . Pinion is centered now , and my housing has a FILL plug not a drain plug in the rear . Mine was a 31 spline trac loc , lucky but necessary , 28 spline 4 pinion truck guts are more than you will ever need in a rod
Just from a looks standpoint, a centered housing looks better, especially if exhaust runs out the back next to the centered license plate. Mine is not centered, and this has been pointed out to me as a detracting feature.
Same thing was pointed out to me by a roadster club elitist. (Model A; Jag front & rear, guy doesn't weld...doesn't pay, either) "You're gonna look under there every time you park, and you're gonna hate it!" He was full of caviar. (or whatever those guys get full of) It was under my '27 Highboy, and I never hated it. ...but I wouldn't do it again...
Not a 9 inch ( Mopar 8&3/4 ) but as for the location, center the housing I did mine and never had a problem. It looks so much better. Just make sure everything is in square.
Lot's of great info and OP's going on.... With all the A's appearing as new builds, Duece's. How about some more feedback? I'm going to 'center' my housing, and let the driveshaft angle some. Just seem's right in the looks dept.... Anyone else?
Centred housing IMHO is more aesthetically pleasing when viewed from behind. The tailshaft will still be in phase and work as designed irrespective of whether pinion is centred or not.
I have an early Bronco 9" in my Sedan as others do, centered housing and no cutting. (other than hangers that is)
Early Bronco - uncut. Centered housing, offset pinion, just as Ford designed. This build is over 25 years old. These were very commonly used without any mods as mentioned above. I intended to swap this for a quickchange but never got around to it...wish I had. I guess these old factory 9's are antiques in their own right...man, I feeling old...
66-77 bronco . Perfect width, good brakes and centered housing. Also they use the small round tubes that taper into the center section which I like better then the squared off taper. Also 57-59 ford is the right width but it's 5 on 4.5 bolt pattern and harder to find.
Centered housing always looks much better when easily seen from the rear, but the pinion will be 15/16" offset (with a 9"), and this now compound angle should be included when figuring up total U- joint angles. Most factory vehicles that had offset pinions also had offset engines that minimized or eliminated compound U-joint angles. This horizontal or compound angle may be under or over 1 degree depending on drive shaft length, but is added to any vertical working angle, and can be important when designing the drive train for U-joint working angles equal to or less than the recommended 3 degrees. The link below should answer any questions, especially sections # 5 through #11. http://www2.dana.com/pdf/J3311-1-HVTSS.PDF