cutting down Ford 9" axles

Does anyone know if it's possible to use stock 9" axle shafts that have been cut down slightly? I had new housing ends welded on my axle and lost a few inches (a good thing) and now I'm trying to decide if I should go with customs or if it's possible to get a stock axle that is slightly longer than what I need and cut a little off. By little, I mean less than half an inch. Would there still be enough spline left on most? How much can the axle protrude into the center of the differential?
Thoughts? Thanks!

 

Yes, if you can find a stock one that size, you will be fine trimming it.

 

Do you have any idea how wide the splines are usually?

 

I have a pair of 9" axles in the back of my truck. They splines are about 1.5" long.

I have cut down axles (splines) a bit before, but never on a 9".

 

Anyone else? Any thoughts?

 

I even got a pair of Moser axles that were too long and even THIER advice was to cut them down.

 

If I remember right, you can cut up to 1" or 1-1/16" and still have enough spline to get full engagement as long as the housing is shortened the apropriate amount to keep the engagement correct.

That applies to the large number of pickup and big car axles I have seen. I have no idea whether or not there may be some early model or small-car axle that MIGHT be an exception.

If you need more than an inch removed, then the next step is removing at least 4-1/2 inches to get new metal, then resplining.
In that case you will need to find a much longer axle such as the long-side of a van or something, and then have a place like MOSER respline it.

Someone else may have some better info, but this is according to the ones I have seen so far....

 

^^^^ yup, check teh wear pattern on your axles, if the untouched splines are deep enough to make up the difference, cut away. Be sure to clean off any wire edges and chamfer the ends so they slide in good and button it up.

 

Ok, sounds good. I can't reuse the old axles because they're bronco's and are 5x5.5 and my wheels are 4.5. I'll check the wear pattern on them though and see how much is engaged. Didn't think about that... Now the fun begins with trying to find the right brake spacing and bearing sizes...

So anyone need some early bronco axles?

 

I have had MOSER weld and redrill Bronco and Pickup axles to th car patterns before.
It's often cheaper than finding other axles.

They do it thru UPS if you find it handy.

MOSER- 1-260-726-6689

 

Fast too, best turn around in the industry

 

MOSER Rocks! Absolute pleasure to do business with them.

It's been a few years since I needed their services, but the last time I did, they shortened and re-splined a pair of 9" axles, and their tech spent over an hour on the phone just talking cars with me. Total bill was [IIRC] about $110 with shipping.

I got a follow-up phone call, as well as a hand signed thank-you letter in the mail.

MOSER is the BEST!

Give them a ring, they will answer all your questions.

 

there are some things to think about : are you going to race on the axles ? if so how much HP ? how many Splines are you thinking on 28, 31, 35 ?
I cut down a set of ford 9 inch axle 31 splines and had currie respline them but what I didnt think of was to have them re heat treated and I twisted the splines off the axles wwith a 327 chevy on a 1300 lb car.

 

I'm not racing on them, and might make a drag strip once or twice. I'm running about a 3200 lb car on roughly 400 HP but street tires. I'm not thinking about resplining at this point, I'm looking at getting some stockers and cutting just a little off. I have a new 31 spline diff but the old axles are 28 and the wrong bolt pattern. So basically, I need to find some new/used 31 spline axles that are close in size. Then, I need to figure out how to match the explorer disc brakes to the older large bearing axles (different brake spacing). I know, it's a cluster, but I had originally planned on getting new custom axles and didn't think ahead as much as I should have! It may be easier just to go ahead with the customs...

 

IIRC the Strange ones I bought last june made to my length in 31 spline only cost me around 350. You are close enough you could just take them down there and price the new/custom price difference. They are very good people to deal with imho.
-Drew

 

Yup, I just bought a pair from Strange. Best price I could find for full setup with bearings, studs, etc. and VERY fast delivery. Actually shipped sooner at a lower price than quoted.

 

Ok I know everyone will call me stupid but I had an 8 inch Ford rear end. I took out the axles and they were exactly the same as a 9 inch. So much so that I narrowed a 9 inch housing to fit and used the axles and brakes, small bearings etc. 28 spline 9 inch rear end drum to drum 59 inches wide. 2 hours. 50.00.

 

PM'd ya.

 

Moser shortened and resplined my axles for me much cheaper than new axles. I contacted them first and leared that the problem is that to respline used axles, the cores need to be long enough to allow for the resplining. I ended up using a rear that was much wider than I needed so that the axles could be resplined to my resired length. Contact Moser. They were very helpful. If you know what length that you need, they can tell you what donor axles will be long enough for them to shorten and respline. I had them install new bearings and seals so the axles came ready to pop into the housing that I had already shortened.

 

yes you can cut a liile bit off the end, you can also have them resplined as long as the axle shaft isn't tapered.

 

You can get axles splined from Matt at Attitude Performance in Arlington Heights Shop number is 847-593-0505. Most stock axle are rolled splined and so recutting them is not possible with out proper machines. Larger or wider axle have a larger shaft and sometimes enought meat to cut it back and spline it.
What year bronco Axles

 

I'm not trying to shorten the housing, just the axles. The housing's already been shortened to 52.5". According to Currie's handy calculator, I'm needing 29.401 on pass and 26.904 on drivers. Looks like I could use Bronco axles that are 29.75 and 27.25, except for the bolt pattern. Any other thoughts on possible donors?

Part of the problem I'm running into is the axle spacing, brake spacing, whatever you call it. For the explorer brakes that I'm running, the spacing is 2.5 and the torino LB axles are 2.463" according to currie. Is it really worth beefing over 37/1000ths? Would I run into any problem with the brakes besides the caliper perhaps dragging on the inside?

 

I got a PM from someone else about the axles first, so if they don't work out for him I'll let you know. The original axles won't work in many ways- they're just longer than I need, so they're not resplineable (sp?). They're 28 spline and small bearing. I had Late big ford ends (matches my explorer brake setup) welded on so no small bearings for me. They're from a 67 rear, I think.

 

Man if there ever was a textbook case for custom axles you're it. They're really not as expensive as you might think, not like you need gundrilled titanium or anything. The car's weight and power are also right on the edge of justifying improved axle material too. Just take the plunge, it won't be regretted. good luck

 

I agree, this may be the textbook case for getting customs, but I'm fighting it! I called currie and they said that the difference in brake spacing is no problem, but he didn't know of any application that used 31 spline axles with 2.463 spacing. Is he just trying to sell me on a set of their customs or does anyone know of such a thing? I thought I had seen some somewhere, but I'm gonna have to keep digging...

 

If you take one of the bronco axles the long one and cut it down for the short axle and respline it and drill a new bolt pattern add the large bearing you got one done. The other can be used out of a longgggg or wideeee car truck with a 8" or 9" . Yes 8 and 9" 28 spline axles are the same, cut and repline them . This is what I did on a tubbed 31 coupe , what can I say it was the 80's and it had tweed too!
What size 9" rearend are you trying to get outside axle to axle ? 54" 55" 57"?
I have a Currie rearend if you need one It's one of them fancy big bearing polished alloy 31 spline with WW disc kit 800 clams and 55 inches wide.
Thanks

 

That is pretty fancy! But too steep for me! I can't narrow the axles I have b/c they're the tapered 28 spline bastards!

 

How far is she tapered down? With a long axle like out of a f150 it should have enought meat to recut and respline the axles. Call Matt ,he gets the axle blanks from the same joint as the big boys. Do you have a brake setup already? BS??
Or as other said MOSER- 1-260-726-6689 also a good joint to use.

 

No they're shorties out of a bronco. Too short for me. I might give him a call if I can't find any stockers out there.

He makes custom axles? So far the cheapest customs I've found are dutchmann's for $370 for the whole package. I've got brakes- explorer discs so that's why I need either customs or Torino style large bearings...

 

I am not sure if these will help, but I have several fairly long 5 on 5.5 axles from some big mid + late 70's pickups. A few years ago I made several drag-car rears with aftermarket axles, and these are the Ford used-axle left overs.

They are the type that can be resplined after cutting off about 4-1/2 inches to the heftier-meat area. They can be used for either 31 or 28 spline.
They are mostly BIG BEARING axles, but I might also have a few Small Bearing- maybe.

I don't know how long you need yours. These started out pretty long, so they may have enough to respline..?

If you might find it handy I suppose I can package one up for you for about $25 plus charge for the going shipping rate.
They are just hanging around taking space.

Moser can respline, and they can weld and redrill for any lug pattern.

Bearing condition unknown, so a fresh bearing would be a good idea.