I know I'm going to get lot's of ****** comments, but it's a legitimate question. I'm dropping a '87 302 in my '52 Ford this weekend, and want to know whether or not to spend the money buying brake shoes, drums, WC kits and bearings, seals and having a drive shaft made to fit the original rear, only to find out it'll snap if I jump on it once (and I will jump on it.) Ideal would not having to spend any extra money, here's what I have at my disposal: The original rear '71 Mustang 8" '64 Tbird 9" '65 Mustang 8" (sort of, it's under my 46) Lincoln Versaille 9" (missing some parts) I could probably scrounge a S-10 rear from my buddy also. What have you used in a '52 that's close to a bolt in? 8"? Mopar? GM? What should I be looking for at the pick and pull?
I too am intereted in the answers to this fine question! All I know is, my brakes on the 52 are **** and I'm definitely going to upgrade all four... G.
I would go with a change. Don't know about the S-10, but the 8 inch should be about the right length. The 71 Mustang may be too long - you should measure and I doubt the 9" Tbird would fit (again - measure). If you can, get an early (57-59) 9 " it should be just about the right length.
The original rear end couldnt' even hold up to the stock 239 flatheads. I wish I had all those hours I spent digging busted axles out and replacing busted 3rd members from old fords. And I was just running a 255 merc motor with a WCFB carter and headers. Conversely, I ran a 3.00 8" maverick in my last 49 ford with a hotdog 355 chevy. I beat it like a rented mule but it never broke. Shuboxes don't have much room for big tires, thank God. You'll want an axle in the 57 inch range and an S-10 will prolly hold up if you keep the car light and run a small tire.
I'm glad to see this..I'm getting ready to get rid of my Flatty for a 302 or 351...I knew I needed to replace it, but now I don't have to get my lazy *** out there and measure...Anybody gotta 351 they wanna sell? I'll settle for a 302...
I had the stock rear in my car for about 3 years, and I tried to tear it up. I went to the drags in temple, street races, all over the country, beating the hell out of the thing. I had a wheel bearing go out on me in Cali. and I broke an axle once. I was on some concrete and had 3 people in the car.(hooked up good, for a minute) I tore up the yoke on the pinion twice. all in all it took way more than I thaught it would. I have an explorer rear in it now. I have a 351W hopped up a little, and a T5, I tore up the trans a couple times too. keven
A guy on the shoebox site claims a 76 Thunderbird rear fit perfect for him. I've always been told 71-77 Maverick, 65-69 Mustang, and 57-59 Ford wagon rear ends......I'm looking for something for my 53 myself..
A TRADITIONAL rear end would be a '57 FORD 9" there is no other replacement. I dont know what you guys are talking about building here a street rod? I like to break the originals and run FLATHEADS. Send me all your leftover JUNK Tuck
The rear out of a maverick was almost a bolt on affair for my 50. The 2.73 gears **** but i'll change that in the future. Get the V8 one for 5 lugs and I think the last 2 years they were all 5 lugs. If my memory serves me right all I did was stick it under and drop it on the springs. People told me the spring pads had to be moved slightly, I guess my shackles were so wore out it fit!
There not all that strong. I used a mid 50's ford truck housing and reversed the spring pads. (trucks are on the top/cars on the bottom. It sits on Toyota Van springs because they are flater and sit the car lower. I had to make new front spring mounts and weld them in. I used Currie axles to get the car bolt pattern and a trac Lock unit to cover the 351C/C6 that I installed. I played around with wheel ofsets to get a 15"-60 series tire centered in the wheel well. It's been under there for two years now and works great.
I have used a '55 ford axle in my first dragster. It had a 5:10 gear in it . Welded spider gears,narrowed to 30". I had Moser make some axles out of 9" axle cores. this was a pretty stout rear end,and held up to a 300 hp small block. I did twist the slpines out of one axle though,the old ford axles were only 17 spline. I had to cut the housing to get the axle out,then decided to upgrade to a 9" Sparky
I've been hearing mixed things about the stock rears, some guys have said they run em with sbf's with no problems yet some guys say their flatties grenaded theirs. I guess the guys who swapped motors must just take it easy and never thrash em'......
Has anybody ever converted a Versailles rear end to drum brakes (defeating the whole point behind using a Versaille rear end), what backing plates and drums did you use? I heard that the bearing ends on 9"s came in small, medium and large, is that right? I could use the Versailles rear under my '46 (350/TH350) and put the '65 Mustang rear under the '52 (It has all new shoes, W/C's and hardware already installed), and it'd be ready to go.
[ QUOTE ] I heard that the bearing ends on 9"s came in small, medium and large, is that right? [/ QUOTE ] Pretty accurate - 31 spline axle blanks (used on, 31 spline axles AND 28 spline axles w/disc brakes and some trucks) use the large bearing - your versailles rear probably has the large bearing. I don't have any measurements to give you, but anything out of a MD truck should bolt on...but it's been awhile since I've fooled with these.
You didn't mention whether your 52 was a car or station wagon. I'm guessing a car. The 52-54 wagons ran a ****er axle that's a drop-in. It comes with 11" brakes as well. (Stocks are 10".) ****ers in the original install can be ID'd by the sheet metal plate on the back. As well as the carrier is not a drop-out as the regular rear axle is. (The 49-51 wagons may have come with the ****er rear axle, but all the ones we pulled came out of 52-54 wagons.) Ratio's in the ****er wagon axles were usually one step lower than the p***enger car. IE: if you had an overdrive 50 Ford, it came with a 4.10 diff. (Not a 4.11, a 4.10.) The overdrive wagons came with 4.27 gears. I ran a 4.27 ****er in my Olds powered 50 Ford coupe at the drags. A pair of hard slicks and 100 mph @ 13.99 never broke anything. The ****er rear axle is a drop in with no modifications required. For those wanting larger brakes in front, the 52-53 wagon front drums are also 11" and a drop-in with no mods required. Spindles et al are the same as well. Don't run 11" rear drums with the small 10" front drums. Hard braking at highway speeds will have you switching ends. The regular 49-51 rear axles - and probably the later 52-54's as well - were easy to break. Almost always it was an axle that let go. Now and then the companion flange would break. That's with a stock motor fwiw. Granted, a lot of this stuff is hard to find, but it's what was done back in the day. Adherence to trad can be tough sometimes....
I have been running one in my 53 merc for three years, I haven't had any troubles. But I take it easy, because I think my rear end is the weak link. There have been a few times when I hammered on it. When I get done with my bike I plan to replace it. tim
[ QUOTE ] You didn't mention whether your 52 was a car or station wagon. I'm guessing a car. [/ QUOTE ] Yup, it's a car. Anybody got any websites that deal with 9"ers and their brakes and interchanges? I went searching and found a few last night, all of them dealt with the center sections and converting to the Versaille rear from a drum rear in Mustangs. Is there something special about the Versailles rear brakes that wouldn't allow just the brakes to be bolted to a large bearing, 28 spline rear?
Ford changed to a stronger axle in late 50. I really dont picture a 302 doing much damage to a stock 53; I cant hurt mine with a 276 flathead and Ive tried many times over the past 6 years. Main saving point is that you cant get big rubber on; I can leave a lot of smoke however. Yes, 52-4 wagons, police interceptor and taxis with the HD axle had the ****er, so did same years Merc wagons. The 55-6 will also bolt up and again the wagons are ****ers but in mid 55 the regular axle went to 28 splines. Plenty strong enough for even a hot 292/312 which are known torquers. The 8" isnt much stronger than the 55-6 and with the limited choice of ratios it really doesnt buy you much. If thats what you have, happy with the ratio, and its good to go then by all means use it. The 9" for big engines and tubbed for fat tires for sure. But now you run again into the issue of bigger rear brakes than the front. Mostly used in g***ers.
My advise is change it out, unless you're running an automatic and keep your foot out of it. One summer, a long time ago, a friend kept all the blown-up pumpkins out of his '53 Ford lined up against his garage wall. By the time we went back to school that fall he had 7 or 8 of them in the collection. And he was only running a mild flatty with a 3-speed and 7" cheaters. Another buddy with a warmed-over 292 and 3-speed in a '53 Merc, found that he could take out the cluster in the ******, knock a few teeth off the ring and pinion, and twist the axles; all in one dump of the clutch. I spent more than a couple long nights helping these guys change parts that summer!
My car is a wagon,,,,does have the 11" drums,,,,was originaly a 3 on the tree,,,,,,,,,,I plan to run a mustang 5.0 and a 5-speed,,,,,,,,should I stick with the original rear or swap it out for the 66 mustang rear that came from a 4 speed car?
[ QUOTE ] I know I'm going to get lot's of ****** comments... [/ QUOTE ] Yeah, sure Mike, as if that isn't what you're really trying to solicit. Next I suppose you're going to tell us about your friend who's a secret ****** member.
The Hot-set-up for Ford stock cars around here in the 60's was the ****er rear out of the Ford/Merc wagons..we ran 'em with everything from a 292 to a 406..they seldom broke. We had an "open rear-end' rule here for years...some guys figured out that if you shimmed up the spider gears real tight the heat would cause the rear to lock up after a few laps. Since the officials used to check for lockers BEFORE qualifying, you were home free. We were never that smart..got caught with spools, ratchets and the like all the time when we ran a 9".
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