I know Ill prolly get bagged on for this one, but....

How do I know if I have a 9" rear end in my car. I just pulled out my rear of my 1950 Ford Coupe last night to get it cleaned up and just want to make sure it is in fact a 9", which is what the previous owner told me. Also, should I change out the brakes while I have it out to a different system? Thanks.

 

If you post a picture, someone will tell you what you have.

 

Pics.
If you don't know how to tell a 9" for others god help us. LOL

 

Go here: http://www.kevinstang.com/Ninecase.htm

Great pics and explanations.

 

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=154709&highlight=rear

Look here.

Now what's wrong with the brakes its got?

 

Hey Brent...sorry I didn't get back to ya last night, I was actually doing some work in the garage...about time!

Here's some pics of a stock '50-51 rear: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=153673&highlight=ford+rear

And some info on how to tell if you've got an 8 or 9" rear: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=115926&highlight=ford+rear

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=115827&highlight=ford+rear

I'm more of a Chevy guy so I just had to search here rather than try to describe one myself. If this info doesn't help, call me up.

***Edit: just saw C9s and PnBs replies...I doubt you'll be calling

Bryan

 

Wow, since no one else is willing to help, I will.
Some people assume we are all born with this info, I thought we all had to LEARN this info, but hey, thats just me.

looking at it,
all 9" rearends will have a third member that drops out the front.
a 9" rear will have a flat spot on the bottom of the housing below the third member, 8" are round all the way around. This isn't written in stone, i have seen some 9" rears withthe bottom slightly rounded.

Looking at the dropout though,
9" are mostly round around the edges, and 8" are squared off.
that is how I personally spot them, usually the shape of the third member dropout, I'm sure there are a hundred other easy to spot differences.

heres a couple examples, top is a 9, bottom is an 8.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/FORD...ryZ33731QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


here is the 8"

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ford...1QQihZ013QQcategoryZ33731QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


Hope that helps,

Scot

 

good to see some other responses while I was searching for pictures

Scot

 

Ill try to get a picture of it up soon!!!

 

Here are some pictures!!!

 

Those welds look scarier than mine, I'd DEFINITELY address that before using that rear.

 

Yeah, you should see some of the welds on the frame work that needs to be seriously cleaned up and redone!!! All that duck poop and bracketry is coming off and gonna completely clean it up as long as it is what I want to use!!!

 

its not a 9" or 8"..its a pre 57 style...i had a customers t bucket in the shop that had one.....i think maybe 55-56 ish.....???? brandon

 

I never learned any of the tricks either, but the rear that's in my '55 Fairlane looks alot like that one. I know mine isn't a 9" it is some thing they did right before the 9". When I go to a parts store, they list the rears for 49-56 being the same. Those parts never work in mine, though. I know that some of the third members from the '55 era load from the front of the axle housing and others from the rear of the housing.
I guess what we need to figure out is whether the stock one for your car loaded from the front or rear, or if that is a 9" or if it is the same style that kind of looks like a 9" but isn't- like mine. Unfortunately, I'm 100 miles away from mine and can't make any measurements or anything.

Who knows, someone else will probably spot that and know immediately.

 

Another way to tell the difference between the 8 inch and the 9 inch is that you can get to all of the nuts that hold the 3rd member in an 8 inch with a socket, on a 9 inch the nut below the pinion requires a box end wrench

 

So, should I keep it and clean it up or get rid of it?

 

That rear is Olds/Pont and not any "newer" than 56'. The giveaway for me is the yoke and how the u-joint would be "bolted" to the flange;the flange trunions were bolted on and did not use a u-bolt. If I'm wrong let me know. BUTCH.

 

So, should I keep it and clean it up or get rid of it?

 

That rear end is Olds/Pont, and not any "newer" than 56'. The giveway to me is how the universal joint is "bolted" to the pinion flange. U-bolts were not used, the trunions were bolted directely to the flange. If I'm wrong let me know. BUTCH. Went back and looked at another set of images and maybe it is stock-for-the-year Ford. What ever it is it's OLD and probably hard to get parts for.

 

My '55 doesn't use u-bolts either, same flange style.

I guess it all depends on what you are going to do with it. How much power are you running through it? Do you need a beefy rear? Are you going to modify it so drastically that IF this one breaks you won't want to modify another one?

I am pretty sure the rear in mine will do alright with my Y block. If I was going to be dropping a 390 into it, I'd find a 9" or something beefy. These are a pain in the ass to find parts for, nobody really knows what the style is called. There is no place to get new gears, either. Let me know if you ever need a part number on the pinion seal. It's available anywhere for around $12 but no parts store will be able to find the number for you. I don't have it on me right now, but I can get it to you.

 

Its a 55 ,56 ,57 ...olds or pont. rear and if it's working good now ..Keep it and run it ,,Like you said clean it up and paint it ,,and run it ,unless you just want to spend the money for another one ...ARE the brakes working or not ? if their look good and work correct ,use them also..........

 

Well I got an older 350 that I am going to build up with a 350 turbo tranny to put into it....sounds like it would just be easier to buy a new rear for it than to put the $ into this one.....I might as well just pick up a new 9" just so I have the reassurance in the back of my mind.....

 

Is it a limited-slip?

 

Also the rear end is very cool in my book ,
different then a ford 9''
and not everyone has it........

 

WeTatt,
How do you know it is a Poncho rear? What are the tell-tale characteristics? I'm only asking becuase we've now got 2 saying it's a 55-56 Ford and 2 saying it is a mid-50's Pontiac.

If it IS a Pontiac of that vintage, isn't it a pretty tough rear end? Isn't that what the gassers and slingshots all ran back in the day?

 

mine had ford stamped on it somewhere.....been a few years since i swapped it out....but it had the oval and script ....and yes , my poncho /olds center from 55-56 that seymore ended up with had the same flange yoke.....clean it up real good and start looking....lol brandon

 

Ill tell ya right now its a ford "banjo housing hypoid rear axle" straight from the ford manual ratio is most likely a 3.89. theyre not hard to get parts for as far as bearings and pinion seals jsut try mac's or denis carpenter but good luck trying to find a ring and pinion with a better ratio. I ripped one of these out of my 55 and replaced it so i could get better highway gears. but its the same rearend from 49-56 like somebody else said earlier. they didnt have the 9" until 57. good luck!

 

It's a 37-56 Pontiac rear axle...not especially strong but the 57-64's are the brute-stong ones. There are no posi's avalible for these older ones. I've abused these with 389 engines before and haven't broken one yet. They are prone to having the pinion nut loosen up but a drop of red loctite fixes this pesky problem.
The early ones have low gears in the 4.30 to one, 3.90's or 3.63 gears. The 55-56 generally uses a 3.23 gear and the book shows a 3.07 ratio available but I've never see a gear higher than 3.23s. I've had this rear in 11 of my old pontiacs...oh yeah, a 1956 flange will bolt on that rear end and takes the more common U-joint with round caps, although these old u-joints are still easy to find....many farm implements still use them. Pictured are both types of flanges on a 1941 and a 1956 third member, which I used in the 41 after swapping flanges..
Rocky
.BTW, this rear takes a 5 on 5" bolt pattern wheel.
.

 

I think it's early olds/pont...

I'd scrap it and get a 8" from a V-8 Granada/Maverick ( 5 lug on 4 1/2" bolt pattern) they should be 58" wide. Ford 8" are easy to find and the parts are readially available.

And the bolt pattern will match the front.....

The 9" from a 1980 Lincoln Versailles with disc brakes would the best, but they are getting harder to find.