Quote:
Originally Posted by arue333
I work in a metal shop and can do most of the fab work myself. And I was planning on just ordering rear wheels in a ford bolt pattern, or switching to 31 spline and just ordering chevy pattern axles.
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Since you work in a metal shop and are planning on cutting down the housing and replacing the axles anyway, I'd suggest finding a Ford 9" from a 1978-1983 F150 IIRC (E150's had them up to 1986). The F150 axles are 65" wide WMS to WMS and the E150 axles are 68" wide WMS-WMS. Do you have the fixtures required to reassemble the housing and get the ends true to the center?
The F/E-150 rear axles should be 31-spline already and Trac-Loc limited slips were quite common. The housing is the wide, gusseted design and they were commonly offered with either 3.50 or 4.11 gears with the 3.50's being the most common. You can put whatever housing ends on it that you like when you shorten the housing, although I'd probably stick with the new-style, big-bearing Torino ends and run either the SVO Eplorer disc kit for an economy option or something aftermarket, just depending on what you're doing up front.
The F/E-150 axles are far more readily available here in Oregon than the old Lincoln stuff or the even rarer early Bronco axles that all of the Mustang guys want due to their 58" widths. The roundy-round dirt guys seem to go after the E-150 housings for the width...but they turn up often enough.
Tobin
KORE3