Good evening all! Well the new 52 let me down today. I was at AAA asking questions about my antique plate and its exact location because sure never arrived like it should have. I get that situation taken care of and back out of the parking spot with the 52. Shift the column from reverse to first gear, let out the clutch, and then hit the gas and began to roll away. Then.....nothing! Engine still running but going no where fast. Try reverse again and nothing. The 52 is slowly rolling down a slight grade. Put the car back and gear and I can feel all of the gears are still there. Set the parking brake, put the car back in first gear and crawl under. Driveshaft and rear yoke are spinning but nothing at the wheels. Which brings me to my question. I know virtually nothing about these old rear ends. I am sure it is like most differentials out there but are these stock rear ends know for anything particular? Do they have axle keys that are known to sheer off? I had the car towed back to my work where I can look at it tomorrow to see what exactly is going but any advice or suggestions would be appreciated. The rear axle is a front loader like a typical ford rear end and is about the size of 8 inch would be guess in size at the center section. The 52 has a 215 six cylinder with a three on the tree if that helps at all. Also, it is a Mainline. Thanking you all in advance. Nate
Possible broken axle - pull the axles and check them. Other than that you will have to pull the center section. Don't know that much about the internals of the center section, others can tell you what to look for.
The same thing happened with my 52 when I was leaving a parking lot a couple of months ago, drive shaft spinning away but no go. I got a tow home and dropped the rear end thinking it was something in the diff but as soon as I starting pulling out the driver's side axle, it was a foot short! The damn thing snapped right in two and the spline end was floating in the axle tube. I got a stock replacement on order from Dutchman and it came fully ***embled and was a perfect match. It's not too hard to pull the axles out on these since there are no c-clips inside the diff. Just unbolt it and it pulls right out without having to get into the pumpkin. I would start there.
Like RIOT said^^^. Pull the axles...easy. If one's not broken in half, yank the 3rd member. Maybe one of the spiders sheared it's teeth. Whatever it is will be very noticeable! Here's what the 3rd member looks like...………
Mystery solved. Left axle snapped about an inch away from the flange. Everything is apart, now I need to find some axles
Does anyone else have a problem getting the rear wheels to clear the quarter panel? My car is stock height in the rear.
Standard problem. May have to remove the lower shock mounting bolts to let the rear drop and extra inch or so.
Hopefully the final question. Any ideas on where to find the axles, bearings, and axle seals? I am planning on replacing both of them. I have looked up Dutchman and I am waiting on a return call.
Looks like I do have another question. Is a 51 car rear end the same as the 52? I saw somewhere that 49 to 56 or 55 used the same rear axle. Can anyone confirm this?
They did do some changes to some inner parts of the axle if you get this you will not have to guess: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...lock-engine-manual-and-other-goodies.1005974/ Also if you stick to the same year car it would be best here is a place that has a lot of Fords to choose from for parts and they do ship. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=347866255934591 It would also help if you posted your location when looking for parts.
Try jacking it up by the frame just ahead of the rear tire that should work,some Gabriel and KYB shocks are about 1.5"-2" shorter than OEM and that is just enough to cause that problem I ran into that on my '54 with stock height after I changed to new Gabriel shocks. Turns out the Monroe replacement listed is the right length, I added Mr. Gasket shock extensions and that fixed the problem. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/mrg-1290
Thanks for the heads up about adding the location. Never realized I did not have that up. Also, thanks for the links.
This guy has a whole rear for sale but's in Florida https://www.facebook.com/groups/54F...1261638717&reply_comment_id=10158072985098717
Maybe swapping to a later axle like a 1990-92 Ford Ranger 8.8" which is much stronger might be in order usually run about $200 in a Pick-A-Part some of these yards will run a 50% off day.
I was reading on here previously that an Explorer rear end seems to work pretty well. I found one in a 1993 Explorer at a local junk yard yesterday. Has anyone installed one? I also found axles from Dutchman and with bearing and retaining plates they are about 410.00, In a bit of a quandary at the moment. Either way I figure it, it seems to be about 400 bucks. The junkyard rear I found, will need brakes redone, wheel cylinders, and more than likely axle seals. Plus I will need to have the driveshaft modified for the yoke on the new rear. After doing some parts shopping the total came to be about 400 bucks or so. Thanks again for all your help.
You should be reading this: https://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/Ford-8_8-axle.shtml The Explorer rear is 59.625" wide your stock rear is 57.5" wide but both still have a 5 on 4.5" bolt pattern.
The Explorer wheels and the mid 80's early 90's Crown Vic's use wheels that have a more positive offset that will help clear your shallow wheel wells and take up for the extra width.
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