Ive been offered an empty 8" Ford axle casing , its 52" flange to flang so can anyone tell me with the brakes etc fitted what will be its total lenght hub to hub of brakes be ........asking as dont want to be chasing bits down then discover it doesnt fit ..Thanks
If you figure the brakes are 2” wide and the axles just clear them by about an inch add about 3 to 3 1/2 inches to each side roughly. I think???
Add about 2.5" per side for the standard brake assemblies. A lot of 8" rear ends were about 56 1/2" from wheel mounting surface to wheel mounting surface. Edit; make that about 2 5/8" per side allowing some running clearance between the backing plate and the drum.
That's what the math says with his housing. The one currently under my '33 pickup tapes out at 56 1/2". Don't know what car it came from or why the slight differences. But hey, 56.5-57" is a good width for early Fords, better than 60-63".
Looks like the casing could be perfect as i need 57 1/2" hub to hub brake faces , its for my 32 Sedan , Thanks for the replys
If fuzzy memory serves, the 8-inch found in the Mustangs of that era had stepped tubes, that were smaller in diameter towards the brakes, and a Maverick 8-inch did not. I, of course, could be totally wrong.
52" flange to flange would be a Maverick which would be 56-1/2" at the wheel mount surface. Probably be better off finding a complete axle vs having to hunt down a pair of axles and backing plates along with a center section.
I think @gimpyshotrods is correct (as usual), the early Mustang rear had a stepped down tube mostly. I have a 68 Cougar rear that is slightly wider than the 56.5" Maverick rears I also have. I will measure both and get back to you.
Part 2- Maverick rear measures 52" flange to flange (Cougar rear 55"), so most likely it is Maverick rear that is 56.5" WMS to WMS. Ford used two different rears in the Maverick. The early cars (up to 74), had either a 5 lug axle with a straight tube, or a 4 lug axle with a stepped tube. The wheel register also changed in 74, from 2-3/8" to 2-3/4". The later Mavericks (74 up) all had straight tube axles with 5 lugs, and 10 x 2" brakes, except the Grabber which was 2.5" if memory serves. Pictures of the housing would help.
Stepped tube was 4 lug axles, they had smaller bearings than 5 lug. You would have to retube to use with 5 lug axles. Best I remember, all had 2” x10” brakes. Maverick Grabber was only a appearance package, no different underneath than any other Maverick.
Maybe there were other options but all the Maverick, Mustang, and Fairlane 8" rears that I have come across or used have all had 10" x 1-3/4" rear brakes.
I have a 56.5 Maverick rear under my 40 coupe on a CE parallel rear spring kit. Bolt in, works great.
I used a Maverick 8” in my ‘27 T. I pulled it from the car during our Pick-a-Part half price weekend, $40. I had heard that the V8 Mustang IIs had better ratios and sometimes a limited slip. Sure enough, I found two “posis”, both with 3 something gears, much better than the 2 something gears in the Maverick, and both half off. Good day at the junkyard.
If axle housing appearance is not an issue, the 7.5 and 8.8 inch rear ends from the Ford Ranger pickup, from 1990 to 1992, are 56-1/2" wide. It has 9" or 10" brakes, depending on a presumably undisclosed formula. I have seen all combinations. It does have some pinion offset. If that is not a problem, it could be a candidate.
It would be relatively easy to redrill to another bolt pattern. A long time ago, a friend put a Volvo rear axle assembly in his old coupe and I think it was 4 1/2" on 5 pattern.
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