1952-59 Ford I finished my 8.8 Rear End swap on my 54 Customline

I finished my 8.8 install and thought I would share my upgrade. If I can be of any help to anyone wanting to do the same please let me know.

I went with the popular Ford Explorer rear 31 Spline, 3.73 limited slip rear, with disc brakes out of a 2000 model, but 1996-2001 will work, or 1991-1994 with drum brakes. This Ford Explorer rear end measures 59.5 inches factory and has an offset pinion. You can easily customize this rear end to fit many cars of our era... By narrowing the long side of the rear end to the same side as the short side axle, which is 27.625 inch long, you end up with an overall width of 56.625 and now with a centered pinion.

You can purchase the second axle on Ebay from Motive gear as I did for $88 new Motive Gear MG2120 8.8" Axle Shaft for Ford Style

As mentioned, these rear ends after 1996 come with disc brakes which is a plus if you're wanting a brake upgrade as well. Since I recently upgraded the front to power disc brakes this worked well for me. I purchased new rear rotors from Rock Auto with painted centers for $18 each WAGNER BD125463E and I purchased new Motorcraft calipers from Ebay for $50 each FORD OEM Rear-Right Brake Disc Caliper F57Z-2552-AD and New OEM 1998-2001 Ford Explorer Rear Left Driver Side Brake Caliper F57Z2553AD and of course all new lines and fittings. VERY affordable swap.

I also chose to swap out the factory Ford 3.73 ratio for a 3.26 as I want to hit the highway and I don't have an overdrive. I have 17 inch rear rims and the tires that are only 25" tall so with the factory 4.10 ratio I had was hitting 3200 at 50 mph. Now it's a sweet ride cruisin on the highway and has plenty of get up and go with the torque of the 392 cu in engine.

FYI my front power disc brake change over came from Tom's Cl***ic on Ebay and everything worked perfectly as well. (I did have a bad booster, but they were great and handled everything without an issue and very timely) Highly recommend.

I also hooked up the emergency brake set up using the Lokar EC-81FU Black Floor Mount Rear Disc Cable for Ford Explorer and it worked perfectly using the original e-brake set up on the car.

As for the driveshaft, I only had to add the Ford 8.8 rear coupler and a 1310 ****er join to my C4 driveshaft and the length was perfect.

 

Wow, excellent write up! Answered some concerns I had. Thanks!

 

Posted to the "Sticky FAQ" page 5 With these videos

 

Nice write up and info... looks good as well..

 

Yes, excellent write up. Nice work on the install, of course everything you have done has been very nicely done.

 

You have yet to fail to impress me.

 

Nice! Are you using stock springs? If so what spring perches did you use?

 

Thanks... I am using the stock springs and I ordered the kit below off of Ebay for $119.00. The perches are universal and a little longer than what I needed so I just cut them to length. Great fit and heavy duty. As for the shock mounts, the spring pads are very similar in fit and size to the original so I just cut the shock mount tabs off of the originals and welded them in place. The ones provided with the kit didn't fit the original shock style, but I guess you could change style shocks and use what was provided in the kit.

BARNES FORD 8.8 AXLE SWAP COMBO

 

Great info!

I tried to narrow the housing myself but I'm pretty sure now its junk...

 

I'm sure I'm headed in that same direction. What do you think you did wrong?

 

Sorry to hear that, but there is a tool to align the housing when narrowing. If you don't have this tool the alignment wont be exact. Many have done it without using the tool, but I would strip the rear end down and take it to a shop that has one and let them do the cutting. It's only one side and should be very quick and affordable.

 

I had the bright idea that I would cut the long axle tube at the center section, knock the cut piece out of the center section and then press the now shorter axle tube back into the center section.

It turned out to be way more difficult to press the cut tube back into the center section than I estimated...

I thought I was being smart about it- we have a large oven here at work so I threw the center section in the oven and the cut tube outside (it was really cold out when I tried this). By the time I got everything going the temps had normalized and I ended up mushrooming the end of the axle tube trying to push it in all the way.

Ha ha oops.

If somebody made c-clip eliminators for these Explorer disc brake axles the housing would probably be fine. I think I looked into this but can't remember the outcome.

 

You can get C-Clip Eliminators at Summit for around $160 for the Ford 8.8

 

Why is this guy whispering?

 

CKA7, what driveshaft did you use?

 

When I first put the C4 in I had a driveshaft made to fit the original rear end end that was in the car. When I went to the 8.8 I had to use the coupler for the 8.8 rearend and the 1310 ****er joint and the length was still perfect.

 

Trying to figure out if I need to grab the Explorer driveshaft. Having a hard time locating an 8.8. It appears to be quite popular in the jeep circles.

 

I doubt the Explorer driveshaft is what you would want. I am not sure if it is long enough but you would have to to change the transmission yoke anyways. I have read that a Crown Vic shaft can work, nut around here it was only $180 for a built shaft that I new would be right so I just had it made. I can check around here for an 8.8 and then maybe a salvage yard in your area could order it since they have arrangements for shipping. I actually just sold a second 8.8 3.73 that I had to a Jeep guy the other day, but it had drum brakes.

 

I have the complete motor/****** out of a 1999 Mountaineer (Explorer). It's the 5.0/4R70W. It would be nice to have the rear end out of one, just to keep it all as a matched set, so when I have to source parts, it would be easy.

 

Private message sent

 

Hey guys, I have my explorer rear cut, getting ready to weld it back together, however, taking some measurements before I do so, the cut tube is just under a 1/16” longer than the factory short p***enger side. I have the brakes and dust shields off and mocked up the axle shaft and everything seems to be happy. But is it critical to get the extra 1/16” out, or is that a tolerance I can live with without damaging anything?

 

1/16 longer is not a problem. You'll just have 1/16 less splines engaged but that's nothing to worry about. Your only issue to look at is that the axle shaft retaining clip still installs without any problem, which it should. May want to test fit it just to be sure.

 

cka7, thanks for the feedback. When I slid the axle shaft in I was able to put the C clips in with no problem at all. Thanks!

 

I am calling around today to find one. I'll be starting mine soon as well.

 

For what it's worth, I cut mine with a pipe cutter that I rented for $13/day. Took a lot less time than I anticipated and cut nice and straight.

 

Dang, that's smart. Good idea. who did you rent that from?

 

just a local equipment rental place here, A-Z rentals. Took me about 20 mins per cut, just taking my time and not cranking on it.

 

I found one locally. Going to pick it up this week.

 

CKA7, I'm curious about the spring perches, those ones from Barnes are 2.5" but the leaf springs for our cars our 2". Did you install as is or put some sort of shim or spacer to make up the difference on each side of the U bolt?