So, if you've been following my progress on Mater, I drove him for the first time recently... loud clanging noise..
Worked on the Tranny some.... some improvement. But now we think much of it is coming from the rear.
Finally an excuse to swap the 8" out for something we can put some gears in, for some decent highway cruising RPMs.

Went to local "Pick-A-Part" yesterday in the rain. Their on-line inventory indicated they had two potential donors. One turned out to have picked over, and the other was an F250, which was listed as a 100.

Picked this up from a private seller today. Drove an hour, but definitely better than "pulling" it from an existing truck, even if I could find one.



Now to figure out what size tires I'm gonna end up with, and calculate gears...
One thing leads to another.

 

Nice! What year truck is it out of? It looks like it should work fine. Check to see if there's a metal tag at one of the third member nuts. If it's still there, it will tell you the gear ratio, among other things.

http://www.woodyg.com/fairlane/finfo/fordrears.html

 

nice score, $100 a ggod price any day for complete 9"

i'd guess it's has about 3.50 gears.

 

I got an 8.8 from a yard that was already off for $55. I has 3.73 and disc brakes, but when I got it mounted and put wheels on it I found out that it had a bent axle. Ouch! That is probably why it looked so new, got hit really hard in the back and probably totaled it. The a** at the junk yard wouldn't take it back so I got a new axle, bearings, the calipers, and the rotors all new from a buddy who has a shop for $400 more. At least I know it is in good shape now. And I would have had to buy the brake parts anyway...
Good luck with yours!

 

Excellent!
Good luck on getting that installed. I recently changed the gears in my 9" from 4.11's down to 2.75's. It sure is nice to be able to get up on the interstate and cruise along. I'm really enjoying it.

Bobby

 

Bobby,
Anything I should watch out for?

 

Naw, it looks like you're good to go. I see that your new diff has lower shock mounts already so you con't have to jack with that. And since you have the springs then you have the "U" bolts and plates so its almost as easy as rolling it under the truck and bolting it up.


...well....ok, you will have to cuss a bit hear and there and maybe indulge in a frosty beverage or two, but overall, its not bad to do the swap.

Bobby

 

Looks like you might have to straighten out the spring perch on the passenger side - it looks bent in the picture.