A friend of mine gave me a 9'' ford housing that he got from a 70's ford truck, he had another rear end housing that was junk but the axles are good. I noticed just by looking at the axles that one set was smaller than the other. I kept the smaller ones, the larger ones were chewed up. Im wondering if those axles are good just for that rear end or are most parts interchangable on ford 9''
Most if not all 9 inch have a long and a short axle, also most are 28 spline and some are 31 spline and also 2 bearing sizes large and small and many different lengths........Good luck...............OLDBEET
Define "smaller" Do you mean shorter, smaller in diameter, or ?? Shorter - typical Ford 9" have one axle longer than the other Smaller Diameter - 28-spline axles that begin as 28-spline axle blanks are thinner/smaller diameter than 31-spline axles or 28-spline axles turned down on a 31-spline blank (most big Ford/Merc/Linc w/disk brakes & most late-model 9" all began as 31-spline blanks to run the larger rear bearings). Count the splines on the end - typically, axles only fit the housing & spline combination they came with, although there are myriad ways to mix/match (ie - there were some "standard" lengths).
You can also exchange with the ford 8" same axles as the 9" 28 spline.. I know of a few guys that get the short 8" axles and cut the housing to match them.. It's a cheap way to shorten a nine inch rear.. As for your axle , if they are 31 spline you would beable to shorten them and respline to a 28.. The problem is Ford rollformed the splines and the axle shafts are to small to cut splines into.. But with 31 good for 28's
The Jalopy Journal
