I am curious- when you narrow the rear housing, are you all using premade axles, or do you ahve to get them custom? My search didn't turn up any info on, this, and I can't seem to locate pre-made short axles for a 9", so what shop would be able to make trustworthy high quality axle? I'm thinking if there are premade ones, say, 3" shorter on each side then I know I should only narrow my housing 3". Any leads? thanks
I think most guys that shorten a housing only shorten the long end, and then use a second short axle on that side.
you can have your axles shortened and resplined if there is enuff metal , some can't. or you can get custom axles in ANY length..it is not as expensive as you think. check with Moser Engineering..they do it all
The last nine inch I did that required new axles Moser did for me, I just gave them the numbers, they sent me the axles. I ended up trimming about .125" off the ends anyway.
There are lots of companies that will make you any length of axles, with your choice of splines, for a Ford nine-inch rear end. You can find links to many of them by looking under "rear ends" on http://www.roadsters.com/trans/ Dave Mann (602) 233-8400 weekdays http://www.roadsters.com/
Off the top of my head, other places to get axles--Dutchman's Motorsport, Strange, Mark Williams, Currie.
Johns industries in caspian michigan did a excellent job resplining my chopsawed to length torino axles i sent him.his number is 1 800 332 3450
I shortened an 8 inch Ford with two short axles it narrowed it up about 4 inches total and 12,000 miles later it still kicks ass.
the last batch of rears we had done.....we used 9" truck housings and axles for 3....plenty of meat on the axles...i had a 8" granada housing cut on one side to center the housing ...some had stole the axles....so i used a big bearing ends ...with truck axles....to get the 5.5 pattern ....worked out nice...its under my a coupe.....my buddy said when he was at brookville ....they were buying housings and axles by the skid load.....the axles were splined a couple inches longer ...and were basically a cut to fit deal .....get your wheels and tires ....then measure ....then measure again ....easier to make the rear fit the wheels then to get the wheels to fit the car.....brandon
depends on how much you shorten it up. If you choose a stock size you can get away with running off the shelf axles, but if you cut it to fit your ride and wheel offset you will probably have to have 'em made. its a pretty simple thing you get your dimensions and call an axle house like strange or dutchman. give 'em the specs and they make 'em for ya. Your other option is to have the original axles cut and resplined. Many axles like GMs later model axles can't be cut down because they neck down between the spline and the flange. that's one of the things that makes the ford 9' popular or has made it popular in the years past is that the axles are thick for the length and can be cut down.
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