So I'm buying an 8 inch rear end for the brakes. I look and it has 28 spline axles. So I fit them into a 9 inch spool I had on the shelf. They worked, so I took a 9 inch housing that was given to me and cut the ends off. Then I welded the 8 inch ends on with brakes and original bearings. Narrowed 9 inch rear end for fifty dollars. It works awesome, 4 speed big block car, too. Who knew?
No sorry no photos. But all I did was put a center section in the 9 inch and put in the axles. I made a really crude jig out of some 3 inch tubing to keep the tubes in line. Then I just burned the ends on. I established the width by putting the axles in the spool on the floor and measuring it. This was literally done in a few hours.
Pretty sure all of the 28-spline 9" rear ends came with the same small axle bearing ends and used the same 28-spline axles as the 8" rears. I recenly sold two 3.00 geared 9" rears that came out of '69 Cougars, both had the small bearing ends on the housing and 28-spline axles.
Done it lots of times in some fairly fast cars. I don't remember the 9" 28 spline axles being bigger...although they might have been...but they still neck down to fit the 28 spline carrier. You gotta be sensible about how much power your gonna actually send thru them though. FORD didn't upsize the axle in the muscle cars because they like to spend money. You CAN snap an axle and those ARE the light duty ones. Like I said though...I have done it before and never had an issue. My cars were Automatic small blocks...and I'm SURE that made a big difference!
I have used 28 spline axles from a Mustang II 8 inch and a mid 60's Mustang 8 inch in a 57 Ford 9 inch .Only difference was the retainer plates had different patterns.That was solved by cutting a notch in the plate at the bottom to where you could slide the plate off the axle without removing the outer bearings .Im sure this kinda thing has been done lots before i did it also ...
The Jalopy Journal
