I have the option of buying an ford 9'' with no brakes or an 1997 ford mustang 8.8 with good disc brakes already on it. I can puchase either one for $100. I plan on running disc on front and back, I think it would cost me several hundred more to put disc on the 9". I have done some resurch and the mustang measures 58.5 Does this rearend sound like it will work and save me some money?........im just building a sunday cruiser not a dragster!

 

the 8.8 will work, but it falls into the "too narrow" catagory. if you will search forums for rear end swap you will find an article that may help you decide. it gives specific vehicles/rears that are a bolt in. just depends on what you want. hope this helps. I would add the link to the article but I'm not as computer savy as some on here.

 

The width of that 8.8 is ok, you really need to decide how wide of a tire and wheel combo you will run in the back. If you plan on running a 10" wide wheel the 58" width will help. Install 2 or 3" wheel wells into the bed side and you can run a 10 with a 12" tire and still have a good looking offset on the rear wheels.
We used to cut our rearends down to 55" overall. (50" housing) We would then use 3" wheel wells in the bedsides and run 10's with 12" wide tires on about a 4 1/2-5" backspace. All tucked under stock width rear fenders.
The problem is the flange on the third member where the u joint is supposed to go. Isn't that what you have? Having a driveshaft company make up the new driveshaft will probably cost more because of the mating flange that will have to go on the driveshaft to hook to the rearend. That or the flange should be changed to a yolk.
With the 9" you don't have that problem, but the Explorer disc brake set up for the 9" is abit pricey.

 

Thanks guys, I went with an 1999 explorer rear end. I read somewhere where it is only 1 1/2'' narrower than my stock rear end and 31 spine. all of that with disc brakes already on it I think I done good for 100 bucks!