I'm brainstorming here. I just finished putting a CV front suspension on my 68 and now it's time to tackle the back. From what I've seen on the internet, there seems to be a hand full of different axles people are using to match the bolt pattern or width of the CV front. A big one is going the IRS from Mark8/cougar or if you're lucky Mustang Cobra. While I like and respect the IRS, it's not my cup of tea on this build. I want a solid rear! That leaves the 8.8 from an Explorer/Crown vic as the other popular axle. My problem with the explorer axle is the width. I'm not a fan of having wheels with lots of back spacing on the front and then having deep dish wheels on the back. That got me thinking about the F150 axles. It's 65 inches wide, 31 spline on 8.8 or 35 on the 9.75, disc brakes, locker and cheap! The problem with the F150 is the larger bolt pattern. I'm thinking redrill the F150 9.75 axle for the 5x4.5 bolt pattern? S10 guys do it all the time with the Explorer axle for under $150. Comments?

 

Well no body stopped me, so I went to the Pick-n-Pull and found a 2000 Lincoln Navigator with the 9.75 axle in it and got it for $160. It has 3:73 gears, locker and big disc brakes. I'll start tearing into it soon and we'll see if this works out.

 

I came across this thread searching the internet and it motivated me to try out the 9.75. Ford F150 9.75 installed on a 2000 Ranger - The Ranger Station Forums So I started to tear into the axle to see if this would work for me too. I started by taking out the axle shafts so I could bring them to my neighbor who has a machine shop. To get them to work, he would have to change to the crown victoria bolt pattern of 5x4.5. To do this he milled the back so the studs could go in correctly.

 

He also milled the front to the CV's hub size of 70.5mm so I could run the same wheels on the back and front

While he was doing that, I cut off the brackets from the 4 link that Navigator's use. If you use an axle from a leaf spring F150 you probably would have less cutting. One good thing about the Nav vs F150 is the nav has a sway bar and I think only lightnings and Navs came with them. I'm hoping to use the sway bar on mine too. In the pics below you can see that i got the axle back together and bolted in. I still need to set pinion angle and weld the new leaf spring mounts. When I'm done, I should have a beefy 34 spline axle with 13 inch disc brakes, 3:73 gears,and locker for only $250. Best of all it's less than 1 inch narrower than the CV front track which hopefully means I can run 2005+ mustang wheels.

 

thats awesome im running a 96 cv rear with the sway bar which was super easy to mount and i am going to put pinion and carrier into my cv housing from a explorer for 373 posi

 

The 96 cv axle is a 28 spline and most explorer axles are 31 spline. Is that going to effect the ring and pinion?. I was really debating going with that same axle or the explorer because both are stout axles that can handle almost anything I'll be throwing at them. I decided for the overkill factor of the 9.75 because I might be putting a manual in it.

 

I'll be using the 31 splines from a 04 it's supposed to work we shall see

 

I finally got my angle gauge in and was able to get a rough pinion angle set. I only tack welded my new leaf spring mounts on for now. When I'm done restoring the F100 and everything is back on, then I'll recheck it. I also was able to use the sway bar/shock brackets from the Nav. I had to switch sides, but it worked perfectly. The shock bracket has a small tilt to them and if you switch sides, the shocks angle toward the inside of the frame. I'll get some more pics of everything done and painted within the next week to post. I also used the Nav sway bar and end links. I shorten the sway bar by about 10 inches and the end links by 5 inches to fit.

 

I got some experience with that rear end, and I love it. I've pushed my rear end to 144mph on a 4450lb truck in the quarter mile many times. I actually have over a 1000 passes on the bone stock rear! Can't kill it!

I will put a 9.75 in my truck someday

 

You have any issues with the limited slip? When I first took off the cover and saw the inside, I thought I had got shafted and bought an open rear. I looked it up and found out the trac-loc clutches are tucked up inside the differential behind the spider gears. I'm hearing mixed reviews about the stock trac-loc and its durability.

 

A couple times while in the burnout box I noticed I was doing the one wheel peel. Changed the gear oil and added the friction modifier and was back to business

 

Okay, well I'm done for now on installing the axle and here's the final pictures. At a later date when I get the bed back on, I'll post some pics again. Overall I'm pleased with everything and recommend the 9.75 as another option out there. I got a deal on the machine work and only spent a little over $200 on this whole axle swap. I also reused as much as possible from the original axle and the nav axle. On the old, I reused the leaf springs, shocks and the U-bolt hardware without any modification. I did shorten the upper shock mounts and moved them forward about 3-4 inches. On the Nav rear I reused the sway bar/lower shock mount, end links& mounting hardware,and brake lines.

 

Looks beefy. Nice work

 

Nice job on that rear end..............We took an Explorer rear and narrowed it by replacing the long side axle with a short one and narrowed the housing.

 

Here is a pic of the rear end...........http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...z/100_6014.jpg