I have an opportunity to pick up a 1995 Mustang GT 8.8 rear end for free. I havent had a chance to measure it. Does anyone know if it will be narrow enough to fit in a Model A Coupe or will it have to be narrowed? Thanks!
To quote Tom Peterson "Free is a very good price". Drag the damn thing home, bolt on some wheels and shove it under there. You can always vary the wheel backspacing to compensate if it's even halfway close, which I think it is. Drum brake Fox body is the narrowest, Turbocoupe T bird, 93 Cobra and 94 to 98 Mustang are about 3/4" wider per side, Mark VII and 99 to 04 Mustangs wider yet, about an inch and a half per side more than the Fox body. I believe the housings are the same width, it's the axle length that makes the difference. Sorry I don't have the overall widths, but my reference material is home and I'm on vacation 1100 miles away, no one else stepped up and this should get you started.
i'm not sure if this will help you or not but i did a quick search and came up with this post: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=53218&highlight=rearend+widths i used an 8.8 from a ford granada and it was almost perfect, i think i added a thin spacer to each side, the gears were wild though, i think they were 2:47's..... i had them swapped to 3:73's. good luck, mike
All of that is correct. The '99-'04 Mustang axle is exactly 1" wider per side than the '94-'98 rear axle. The fox-body axle is 59.5" flange to flange. T-birds turbo coupe is 61.5" flange to flange. All fox-body housings are the same width through '98.
actually that may be correct. a friend gave me the rearend when i was building the coupe and he "thought" it was granada which i also thought was 8 inch. however when the mechanic tore it apart to I.D. it to order the new gears he discovered it was 8.8 inch. so i'm not all that confident that it's granada, good call. mike
Some Granadas had 8 inch. There could have been some made with a 9 inch. Some had an 8.7 inch that is kind of an obscure unit that I had never heard of until I bought a V8 Granada for parts. At first glance I thought it had an 8.8 under it but upon closer inspection it was not. The tag read : WER-AC 8CD 2 47 8 7 576A Which according to http://jniolon.clubfte.com/differentialid.html was a 8.7 inch rear with a 2.47:1 ratio. As far as I know the 8.7 was unique to the Granada/Monarch. I will attach a picture of my 8.7
My '38 Ford has an 8.8 that came out of a Granada. I don't remember the model year it came out of, but it was one of the earlier ones. It's a good fit in the '38, but I'd rather have an 8 inch to make it easy to change pumpkins/gear ratios.
I have an 8.8 in my A sedan, fits like a glove. Mine is out of an 86 LTD, which is a fox platform car, basically the same as a t-bird.
PLEASE tell me...how can anyone know what will fit his A without knowing what size wheels/tires?....what offset?....channeled?... full fendered? tell me...i'd like to know how do YOU know?
Ford Ranger 7.5 rear axle (same width as a fox body) on a 30 Model A sedan, unchanneled with 7 1/2" wide tires on 5" wide rims (3" backspace) rubs the inner tub. 1" spacers take care of that or some hammer/dolly work. The coupe is narrower by at least 2" so you should be all good.
did someone miss their morning coffee? jeez.... we are only trying to help by letting him know what worked or didn't work for us. we all know there is a certain amount of tweeking involved in practically every aspect of building a rod. mike
The S10 rearend that I used under my model A is a perfect fit using stock GM 15" wheels and full rear fenders. It measures 53 5/8" from out to out of brake drums.
A Ford Ranger pick-up 90 to 92 model years with 4.0 V6 engine has an 8.8 axle that is about 56" wide. The 93+ Rangers are an 1-1/2" wider than the earlier Rangers or close to 58", about the same width as the 79 to 93 Mustangs. If you are running a milder engine or skinny tires, the 7.5" rear axcle from a pre-93 Ranger could be used,. It is about 56" wide stock. Rangers axles have the advantage of being 5 bolt on 4-1/2" wheel bolt pattern from the factory, the 79 to 93 Mustang axles are 4 bolt. Another hint. The pre-93 Ranger passenger side axle shaft is about 1-1/2" inches shorter than the drivers side axle shaft. You can cut one side of the housing and use 2 of the the shorter pass side axle shafts to get down to a 54" wide rear end. That is all I think I know. Piper106
When messing with Ranger rear axles, be aware of the brake sizes. The V6 4x4 models had much bigger brakes, the 4 cylinder units had very small brakes. All the backing plates and drums are interchangable, if used together. The 4 cylinder five speed units usually had a 3.45 ratio. The V6 4x4 units often had 3.73 and some 4.10 ratios.
If you want to use an 8.8 out of an '85-'93 Mustang (8.8" started in 1985 in the Mustang - V8 only), but you want the 5 lug axles and brakes....you can swap two drivers side axles (I'm 99% sure it's that side) out of any '84-'93 Ranger or the passenger axle out of any Aerostar van. Buy new brake drums, or used...... but get the 9" drum. All Aerostars and 8.8" Rangers had bigger 10" drums. Backing plate is different and the drum is different and the brake shoes are different but the internals are all the same. One note of caution in the 8.8" axle swap is many truck 8.8" axles got 31 spline axles. Mustangs only got 28 spline axles. So you would need the appropriate differential. Non-4.0 V6 and I4 Ranger axles and brake drums are drop in 5 lug conversions waiting to happen. I did this on my '90 Mustang GT. I did the entire rear axle swap in under 40 minutes having never done that kind of job before. IT'S EASY!!
Negative. Only the 2002+ Ranger EDGE has the 31 spline 8.8. All Rangers have the 28 spline diff, 2 wd or 4wd, 7.5 or 8.8. Factory ratios for the 8.8 are 2.72, 3.08, 3.27, 3.73, 4.10. All 8.8 gear sets are interchangable with ABS years needing a small spacer for correct back lash. The Ford Explorer came with the 31 spline 8.8 in the small ford pattern.
okay....i have searched for about 10 hours trying to find a legitimate measurement. most without saying where the measurement is taken. i am looking at a complete ford 8.8 that has all new drum brakes on it. he says the from wms to wms is 64.5" and I estimates the flange to flange is 56.5". i will be running 16x5 with 2-3" backspacing, probably. will this axle fit without any cutting or lengthening? the axle is $150. i have no idea what it came out of. maybe a crown vic (it is wide and has coil mounts). the car will be a 30 tudor. i want the tire even or just below the wheel well lip edge. if i could get a measuremet at this location on a tudor would be good also. thanks Bryan
anybody on the night crew have any thoughts..... see message #23 from me above. the backing plate to backing plate measurement is confirmed at 55.75". 64.5 between wheel mounting surfaces. would this be too long or to short? any advice would be great. Bryan
drag the 8.8 to ecology, give it to em as a core and walk out with a 9" for 65 bucks............ JOB DONE!!!!
I have that same rear end-full size car, just sitting around. 3:08 gears. I was going to put in one of the( 3) 31 posi units I have and put Ford big bearing ends (3.150") on. I have some extra 31 spline 9" axles and the 31 spline size is the same for either 8.8" or 9". $150 sounds high for a drum brake open rear end. Look on the tag on the cover, it will have an L in between the gear ratio ex. 3L23. if it's limited slip. I've measured 2 other 8.8 rear ends. 95-01 Explorer and Ranger are about 58-59" . 7.5" are same width in 4 cyl Rangers but only 9" brakes. Rangers with 8.8 are 10" brakes and Explorer are rear disc. The Explorer come with 3:55, 3:73 or 4:10 for v-8 awd . And are 31 spline in the Explorer, not sure about Ranger, probably 28 spline.
Ecology is on the wrong coast for me. i thought $150 was okay. i can pick it up so there is no shipping charges. it barely has any rust on it but sandblasting can do wonders. all the brakes parts look new. i'm just needing to know if it will fit as is with the wheel combo stated above. the axle is an ebay auction ending tomorrow. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ford...142124028QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item110142124028 Bryan
Ok so it's a limited slip, better for the money. Sorry can't help with the car measurments though. You can also get rid of the bolt on driveshaft flange. Aftermarket ones are more, but from Ford you can still get a regular type pinion yolk for a mid 80's F-150 4 x 4 for like 60 or 70$.
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