Hot Rods Are the old tried & true rear axles getting hard to find?

I gave noticed a lot of cars being built using later model Explorer & S-10 rear axles, are the old reliable axles getting that hard to find or too expensive?

I have been building hot rods most of my adult life and use to buy a car and strip it for parts for future projects so I have several 8" Ford axles the correct length for early Fords and one 9" Bronco that has the 5.5" bolt pattern perfectly matched to the early Ford front brake drums, and has 11" brake drums, this one is scheduled for my nest build.

I'm not questioning the use of the later rear axles just the availability of the earlier Ford axles. HRP

 

You can barely buy a bare 9 inch housing or a rough banjo for what you can spend on a complete s10 or explorer rear end.

 

Yes they are getting hard to find,
Even the 8.8’s are getting more difficult to find and more expensive.

I had a 9” I couldn’t give away, no one wanted an open rearend with 350 gears at the time.


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I've been looking for an 8.75 for my old Chrysler. It quickly became clear that the later Ford axles are mostly cheaper and more available. Tempting, but I think I can eventually find what I want for a reasonable price.

 

Not if you look if you look in my backyard .For the last 15 years any time I see a 9" 8.75 mopar they come home .

 

There is a reason why so many companies are reproducing the housings. With that being said, I have a 57 car housing I tried to sell several times with no response. Shipping is always an expense that many don't want to pay. Out of my last 5 projects, 3 had 9" units. It took a little effort to find what I wanted which was the granada - monarch 9" unit. This was 12 years ago, It would be way more difficult now.

 

For many years,I just hunted up a dumped car in the woods or weeds. Now ,not many dump cars any more{new laws an crap in south Florida at least}an not many rear wheel drive anyway now day. < one more thing seems backward

 

I have a 8" 1966 Mustang rear axle under the 1954 Ranch Wagon, I pirated it from a wreck shortly after it went through a total restoration. HRP

 

Yes Danny, in my part of the world, they're getting hard to find, and expensive when you do find one.

 

What's the worst part of using an S-10 rearend?
Having to say S-10 everytime someone says "what rearend are you using".

 

That would be a $1000 axle where I live.


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It would sound better to say your car had a "narrow 10 bolt". Some might make the assumption it's actually a narrowed unit, and you'd have instant credibility.

Lynn

 

I’ve got no issues telling folks I installed an 8.8 Explorer. Most don’t realize F150 11” drums will work.

 

That reminds me of the joke

"what's the hardest part about skateboarding?

Telling your parents you're gay."

Yes, I skate and took plenty of guf over it over the years, lol.

 

I don't have a problem with it. I've been building hot rods long before there was a s-10 and whenFord's were the go to rear end, the really desirable axle was the big 9"axles from the '57 Fords but the Mustangs, Mavericks & Granada's were relatively inexpensive and cheap.

And in my case they were the perfect width for the early Fords. HRP

 

Dumb luck to stumble across anything 30+ years old at a wrecking yard. I've given up and hit pick and pulls with a tool box.

 

Not skateboarding rollerblading.

 

The best part of that joke is you can replace skateboarding with whatever you feel judgemental towards.

Like s10 parts....

 

I personally don't have any problem with anything someone does to their car, period. However, I think it's pretty obvious that around here mustang II and s10 are both known to gather scoffs.

 

^^^^ or drive a Miata, drive anything baby blue, live in West Hollywood..... I could go onandon^^^^^

 

I thought I scored big time, many years ago. A good friend had parted out a 1970 Plymouth GTX, I hounded him for quite a long time about the 3.54 Dana 60. He finally sold it to me for $100.00. Now the bad news-he had it outside behind his garage. The gutters must have overflowed quite a few times, because it was full of water. The housing and axles are salvageable, just the gears and the Power-Loc are scrap. I had my 69 Coronet R/T jacked up, getting ready to do the rearend swap. I had bought a chrome cover for it. that was when I found out it was waterlogged.

 

I’ve got a Maverick 8” I’ve been hanging onto a while for that early car build I’ll never do. Saved it from a car I scrapped out when I had my Maverick. Also have a MII 8”, it’s got the good 3:55 gears, but it’s a 4 lug. Both were too narrow for the Lincoln. I ended up buying a 67 Fairlane 8” from one of the guys that own the local auto parts store for $75 a few years ago. Even it is a little narrow, but my wheel wells are wide, so the tires are centered anyway. Haven’t seen any more 8” rears for sale lately, and haven’t seen a 9” in years. About all I ever see are pickup rears, 8.8” and GM whatever they are, 10 bolt? About the last rear wheel drive car are the pony cars, and they went IRS a few years back. Even the Exploders went IRS about 03, that was 17 years ago!

No wonder they are getting hard to find, the 8” and 9” went out in the early 90’s, about 25-30 years ago! Damn! Where did all those years go????

 

I just bought a 2000 Ford Explorer rear, posi trac, with rear disc and an extra axle for $200. It's slated to go in the 55.

 

The 8" was last put in a new car in 1978. I was pleasantly surprised to get $100 for one twenty years ago.

 

The high scrap prices a few years ago
Obummers " cash for clunkers" boondoggle
Yuppies moving out of the cities seeing boneyards as offensive eyesores
EPA pollution crackdowns
No market large enough to support the junkyards
1-800 hot rod builders
Suitable parts not being produced anymore
All viable reasons for parts shortages

 

Around here, even those Exploder and S series rears are rusty, especially by the time they hit our auto yards. Sometimes, you'll find good ones, but that's the same with anything.
I have a couple early 9" and a Mustang 8", so have what I need for my projects. The cost will still add up, but at least they lean toward traditional.

 

When I was looking for a rear end for my Ranch Wagon I found some 8 & 9 inch non posi's for a reasonable amount but they were all too wide. An 8.8 from a '90's or so Ranger would have worked but nothing was available within a reasonable distance. I thought about the wider 8.8 from a later Ranger and having it narrowed to use 2 short axles but it quickly got out of my price point. Ended up with a Maverick 8 inch with the stronger 3rd member according to the guy who changed out the gears. In the end it was pricey and probably no cheaper than the narrowed 8.8 but its done. So yes, IMO rear ends are getting hard to find, at least the one you need when you need it.

 

They aren't that hard to find if you just don't get in a hurry......aka planning ahead. Look on Facebook Marketplace and "search" for "Ford 9 inch" or "Ford Rearend". I bought 3 of them in 2 days and gave between $100 and $150 each. One was even a 3.70 ratio. Could have bought a couple more but they wanted a little more, so I stopped at 3. They were complete except the 3.70 was missing the drums.
The thing is, there are a lot of people selling empty housings or missing drum &backplate and still asking $100/$150. Better to keep looking as the ends and the small parts add up. Try Marketplace a few times .......
If you expect to find one that is the correct width without being narrowed.........not likely. You have a better chance with the late model 8.8 and maybe positraction to boot. If you buy an S10 rear you should go to Amazon and order the book they have on Chevy rearends. It will tell you not only widths, but which versions are strongest.You can even find posis already installed in some S10 Blazer rears. The question is " How strong of a Rearend does your cars engine need? If you are running a small horse engine, you don't need a nine inch. If you have to narrow and then buy axles, you might as well start with a 9 inch instead of putting the same money in a weak Rearend.

 

Around here just like a lot of places the supply of go to earlier rear ends has pretty well dried up and the guys who have them want a huge price. Throw in that with a bit of hunting you can find an Explorer rear end with the right gear ratios and what ever they call their limited slip and not have to do a gear change or buy the locker or posi unit. The 150 buck F 150 rear I have sitting out here has the right gears and a locker but it needs to be narrowed and may need the axles drilled to match the front hubs. Both added and not cheap expenses.
I still like the idea of being able to replace a pressed on wheel bearing or replace a third member that crapped out for one reason or another and go again rather than have to do major surgery to a rear axle on a road trip. I've replaced too many axles on Spicer rear ends that had a deep grove where the bearing ate it up. One tied up my hoist for three days while we waited for a new axle to show up. That was on the brown truck with a red label on the box.

 

See..... hoarding isn’t so bad .