Thread: Ford Rear End

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I was talking to my teacher yesterday about getting a Ford 9inch rear end and he told me if I get one that I should a a Lincoln Versaille (sp?) 9 inch because of disk brakes on it already, etc. What do you guy's think about something like this for my 48? He said that he knows someone at a junking yard that can get me one anywhere from 150-400 bucks.... Let me know.
Thanks.

Find out the width you need first. Another possible choice is a Ford 8.8 inch rear from an Explorer. After '95 they all have disk brakes and most of them come with either 3.55 or 3.73 with traction lock (posi). They also are fairly narrow and plenty strong. Plus parts are readily available for them.

Pat

How can I find out what width I need? My frame isn't narrowed or nothing and I wan't to try and get 12 inch rear tires.

Ok well nevermind on the wider tires, I just remembered, when my body is on the frame , you can't cut the wheel wells because the frame is right behind them. Looks like no wides in the back for me. Think I can still get a 9 in rear though?

Originally posted by FMXhellraiser
Ok well nevermind on the wider tires, I just remembered, when my body is on the frame , you can't cut the wheel wells because the frame is right behind them. Looks like no wides in the back for me. Think I can still get a 9 in rear though?

Yeah. The 9" can be made to fit in anything. Helluva common swap. Like the Chevy 350 of rearends. However, you may be able to get 12" on there. Got pics? It also depends on the look you want.

Have you thought about widening the fenders, instead of tubbing?

~Critter

Yeah I thought of that... No money to buy or make new fenders... No way to tub either because of the frame being so wide... Look on the post I did about pics on my 48 and you will see them there.
Thanks for the help. Hopefully in a couple weeks I can pick up my bushings, ball joints and then after that get my springs and shocks and then get a rear end. I also need to find out about brakes... This damn front end doesn't have any and I don't know what to do here, I need everything for brakes and I was looking at wilwood but it's expensive so I have to see if there is any way to get stuff like that off another car at a junkyard or whatnot...

Stay away from the Lincoln rear end. It is unique and parts for the brakes are almost impossible to find. It also has the weaker 28 spline axles.

If it will fit, the Explorer rear end is a better option. Around here they sell for $200 max.

Chassis Engineering http://www.chassisengineeringinc.com/ makes a lot of suspension parts for 1940-1948 Chevys. They recommend a 1968-1975 Nova rear end. Their catalog is free for the phone call. Get one.

So for the 48 think I should go for a Nova rear end? I am really sorry for the million questions I have had but I am just trying to get everything written down for a plan, price everything up, start saving and get started on this thing because there is nothing I can really do to the frame at the moment until I get parts so all I have been doing is sanding, taking dents out of panels, etc and trying to match bolts up and all and labeling everything to get more organized. It sucks having to fix other peoples screw ups and organize their mess but I guess that's the whole thing about building hot rods right? heh Oh well, it makes it fun...
But yeah what rear end would be the best for my 48 then and something with disk brakes if possible. Also whatever rear end it is, what should I do for the suspension and all. Like all that 4 link, ladder bars, etc get's me mixed up, I don't get the difference between them. I think if I am going to change the rear end and suspension I might just go ahead and tub this thing out because I was looking at one of the tubs on the car and one side is bent and dented up and the other has rust holes through and another long line of rust so I would have to change it anyways, I have a friend around here who's dad is real good at building drag cars and has a shop so I would have him help with narrowing the rear end but now I need to know how to narrow the frame?
Thanks for the info guy's, and yes I know I sound like I am way over my head but like I said, I am just planning it all out right now. I wan't to do almost everything that I can myself on this car...

Totally agree with tech1 on that one FMX. My buddy has a 67 stang with a 429 and his rear suspension is simply a leaf spring set up ford 9" with 12" tires in mini tubs, and a set of non adjustable ladder bars that have to be at least 15 years old with off the shelf $20 shocks. He runs 10.80's all day long and pulls the tires a good foot off the ground on the launch.

Dont spend any more money than ya have too.

BG

Yeah my teacher today told me that on his pro street blazer that he brough his leafs to a spring company and instead of having an arc he had them flatten them and it lowered the vehicle and all, will that work if I did that? Will flattening mess it up too or no? If I get a 8.8 or something off a Explorer from a junk yard will it have lefs on it or will they sell them seperately to me?

Originally posted by FMXhellraiser
Yeah my teacher today told me that on his pro street blazer that he brough his leafs to a spring company and instead of having an arc he had them flatten them and it lowered the vehicle and all, will that work if I did that? Will flattening mess it up too or no? If I get a 8.8 or something off a Explorer from a junk yard will it have lefs on it or will they sell them seperately to me?

Depends on the junkyard, some give extra parts that are normally extra at other yards. If you plan to pro street the '48, flattening them would work good but, really only smart for drags because it will ride very hard with them that way.

Alright cool, well I can sacrafice that for a rougher ride, that's ok with me, I am sure I will get used to it. I am going to try and get more info from him too on this and see what I can do. He built his on a budget like me and he said that the leafs will work good and I won't need to ladder bars or nothing like that unless I wanted to put that but he also said (like someone else on here said) that I will need a 6 point cage...

Originally posted by FMXhellraiser
Alright cool, well I can sacrafice that for a rougher ride, that's ok with me, I am sure I will get used to it. I am going to try and get more info from him too on this and see what I can do. He built his on a budget like me and he said that the leafs will work good and I won't need to ladder bars or nothing like that unless I wanted to put that but he also said (like someone else on here said) that I will need a 6 point cage...

I woulden't recomend the leaf flattening unless you are building a pro streeter, it would serve no other purpose and if you want it lowered and that's the reason you were considering it, lowering blocks are much cheaper and simpler. I'd bet that it would ride like theres no rear suspension.

FMX just a point to consider when changing the arch in leaf springs. If you change the arch in a leaf spring and then install it, it will usually sit a little bit higher for a period of time untill the weight has been on the re arched springs for awhile.

I had some springs for a 4x4 blazer rearched to lift it up 4"s and after a little while they ended up being about 1" less than when i had first put them on. So if you do this i'd do it so the car sits about 1" higher than you want it and it should "settle" to the height you want after awhile.

BG

Well they will flatten the leafs not put more of an arch... I will just leave them probably. Most likely I will, he said I could just leave them and the only reason he did it was so that it would lower the backend...