Projects '49 ford tudor with a 9'',1968 bronco rear

Did you unbolt the shocks?

 

Well I tried everything except changing rear ends, unbolting the shackles,narrowing the rear,and beating on the rear,what I did do was go to several garages,and the dump,looking for smaller 15 in. tires,no luck.I had a old '49 rim with a tire on it that fit into wheel well but wrong bolt pattern,ended up the garage couldn't break the beed of the tire to remove it from the rim.I had 4 old "throw away" tires from my Scion,P185/60R/15, mounted them on the ford truck rims,put them on the shoe box without any problems,I have 1 in. or so clearance between the tire and fender,I only have 3 1/2 in. clearance between the ground and shock mount.I would like to have a little taller tire,what should I go with,any suggestions.I also like the the idea of unbolting the shackles,dropping the rear, mounting the tires and jacking it back up in place. Well now at least I have a roller, and the obsession has been lifted,for the time being,thanks for all you help.I really like this Hockey *** Message Board!

 

No Hockey here?

You need a narrower rear end... I mean your car does.

You don't want a tiny rear tire just to make up for the mistake of using a too-wide rear end. Besides the Bronco has the pinion offset to the right and is the wrong bolt pattern.
There is no 9" that comes any narrower. Something will have to be made up for using custom axles or Maverick ones or just the whole Maverick rear end like suggested earlier.

 

With the pinion angle off set. What you could do is shorten only one side of the housing and find another short axle out of the same year bronco rear that would center the pinion. And the shop that shortens the housing should be able to machine the back of the axle and redrill both the axles, and brake drums, for the ford 4 1/2 inch pattern. The only draw back might be is that the housing might be too narrow. I had a shop do my axles and brake drums for about $65.00 But the maverick would be cheaper. Except you have your gears bought for the 9 inch

 

Hay Big Blue Car,what rear are you running,also what size tires and what rims

 

Hay C9,I think one of my problems could be the 2 in. lowering block, maybe I should go with 1 in.?

 

I am running a early bronco rear end with 3:55 gears. I had the axle re-drilled to 4 1/2 bolt pattern. The tires are 215/75-15 on 15x7 steel wheels. As I mentioned above I had the wheels made with almost 5" of back spacing. I think the real key was the wheel backspacing. It was cheeper to order new wheels than it was too narrow the rear.

 

I think big blue has it right. With the wheel back spacing, and redrill the axles and drums...ghost

 

I wasn't sure about the off set of the steel wheels and tire size, but now I am. Another point that was mentioned was the pinion angle offset ,was that a problem,if it was ,how did you overcome it

 

I have never had a problem with the angle for a street car use. Or performance. The pinion angle degree to the transmission up and down is the one you need to worry about...

 

regarding the pinion offset (from left to right) was not an issue with my car. I did however have to cut my floor and install a taller tunnel but that was because of the air-bags not the offset. Before I cut the floor the driveshaft still fit inside the original tunnel.

 

Maybe.

You can also gain some fender flange clearance by cutting it away - the short horizontal part.

Seems like an inch can be gained that way.


Be careful you don't tear up a brake hose while lowering the rear axle.

Narrowing the rear axle 2" is a viable option.
That's only 1" per side and the space is easily made up with the proper wheel backspacing.

At home, it may help to deflate the tires, mount em up then air em up.

Seems that popping one bolt off the shock would get you down low enough to get the job done and there isn't a big h***le with the spring shackle bolts, lining them up etc.


Or . . . you could say, "Hell with it", really narrow the axle, tub it, get some slicks under there and go racing.

 

This might add some info for Ford 9" rearends...9" Rear Axle Width Information...this came from a F-1 Ford truck website..the axles listed below were listed for a F-1 conversion...some to wide..some to narrow...some just right..Like GHOST mentioned I'm using a 69 Bronco rear in my 28 Chevy...it's a perfect match to the factory axle..even the spring perches line up...springs??





Axle Widths quoted below are axle flange to axle flange (roughly equates to rear track)

The 1948 through 1960 all had an approximate 61¼" from axle flange to axle flange.



Too Narrow –

'65-‘66 Mustang 57¼"
‘57-‘59 Ranchero and station wagon 57¼" (narrowest 9" housing)
'66-‘77 Bronco 58 inches but has 5 X 5 ½" diameter bolt circle

Close –

‘67-‘70 Mustang 59¼"
"77-‘81 Lincoln Versailles 58 ½" (probably has disc brakes)
‘57-‘59 Ranchero and station wagon rears, 57¼"
'66-‘77 Bronco 9", 58 inches
'77-‘81 Granada 58 inches
'67-‘71 Comet, Cougar, Fairlane, 59¼"
‘64 Falcon 58 inches




Just Right –

‘57-‘72 F-100 measures 61¼" (5 X 5 ½ " bolt pattern)
‘71-‘73 Mustang- measures 60 - 61¼" (Not all are 9", some are 8") (5 X 4 ½" bolt pattern)
‘67-‘73 Torino, Ranchero, Fairlane- 9" 59¼"to 61¼"
‘67 Cougar- 60 inches
‘89-‘01 - Ford Explorer 8.8" – 59¼"– 59 ½ " (5 X 4 ½ "car" bolt pattern)
‘89 Lincoln Mark VII- (per F100Connection.com) (width unknown)


Too Wide -

‘67 Fairlane- 63 ½" (coil springs)
'72 Ford Van 3/4 ton- 68 inches
'73-‘86 Ford Vans- 65 ¼"

 

Great info 16ozschlitsman

I just want to add one.

Maverick 8 inch is 56 1/2

 

Just my 2 cents

I have 3" lowering springs and 3" blocks on my '51 Ford. With the stock rear I found I could just put a jack between the frame and the axle and crank it down enough to remove my wheels. I can't remember if I always had to unbolt the shocks or not.

Letting air out of the tire is another goodie, but with the 205/75/15's I didn't really need to.

I swapped to a maverick rear and put crown vic disc brakes on it and have plenty of room now, I've never had such an easy time getting tires on and off.

I think there's the better part of an inch between the sidewall and the fender now.

C9 has the right idea, either t******* that horizontal flange or narrowing and tubbing. Why not go big?!?

 

I've learned a lot of valuable information with this rear end switch.What I didn't look at when I measured the '68 ford bronco rear to compare it to the factory '49 ford rear were the brake drums....the '68 bronco brake drums are almost 1" wider than the stock '49 drums....so the total width of the 9' ford bronco was 2" wider than I thought...outer brake drum to outer brake drum...I measured from backing plate to backing plate....FYI...FNG..

 

Well here is "one" solution....'71 maverick 8" rear,5 lug, spring perches are 42 3/4, 56 1/2 drum to drum....get it from ebay....$175.00- axles, housing tubes,backing plates ,all brake hardware...$100- center, $40.00 factory ford turned drums(2)...$70.00 ship cost-FedEx ......

 

Then there is this $10 solution The 49-56 Fords have shallow wheel wells and this clearance problem has been brought up on other sites too.I replaced the shocks on my '54 Ford sedan with Gabriel Gas shocks from the local Autozone and could not get the wheels back on well it seems the replacements are about 1 3/4" shorter extended that OEM shocks so I got some Mr.Gasket 2" shock extensions than lets the axle drop down further and makes room for getting the tire in.

 

I don't think that would work ,since I want my *** to drag in the gr***......

 

X2 on the Granada. That's what I put in my 40 Ford coupe. The Mavricks work better in the Model A's and 32/34 ford frames. I do have a Mavrick in my 40 Pickups but they were an 8" rear end.

 

here is the maverick rear partially mocked up in the shoe box....now just looking for the properly fitting U bolts

 

Nice job! I have a 9 inch from a 1958 Ranch wagon that I am putting in my 49. It is 57 1/4 inches. Hopefully I can get a nice wheel set up with it. Thanks for sharing your pics.

 

I know this sounds crazy but I had a similar problem with my 55 chevy and a little vintage travel trailer i have , it was about impossible to get the tires on but when I jacked it up,put jackstands under frame to drop the axle, then I slid the bottom of wheel way under the vechicle and then rolled the wheel up over the face of the drum , the tire and wheel ***embly made it past the the drum and wheel well and rolls right up and on to the correct position. Letting some of the air out of the tire might help if needed. It worked twice for me, just my 2 cents worth, hope it helps.Doug

 

My '57 9in. fits perfect in my shoebox thats a good fix.