Figured I'd chime in with my next upgrade. Was at the local yard and found a 1984 bronco with a 31 spline 9" and snagged it. My reasoning was to do an explorer disc brake swap since this axle is a direct bolt in to the 78' and has the correct bearing flange for the conversion. So far just have parts collected and test fitting. I am going to be ordering new axles with a 5x4.5" bolt pattern so I can ditch my adapters.

 

The new bolt pattern will be to match your, now famous, CV IFS, correct?

 

That's the plan!!

 

Ordered new axles today should have them next week. The 84' Bronco housing is the same dimensions as my stock housing except for the bearing ends. Housing length is 60 3/8" from bearing housing end to bearing housing end. Passenger side is 28 1/2" from bearing housing to center line of pinion. Drivers side housing is 32 1/4" from bearing housing to center line of pinion. New axles will be 31 7/8" and 32 1/8" with the longer axle on the passenger side. This will give me a 2.50" brake offset and allow for the explorer brakes or most other aftermarket brakes if I want to upgrade later.

 

I just picked up a set of explorer brakes a few weeks ago! I plan on doing the same thing with the axles since I am also CV up front. Who did you go with for the axles? The only company I have checked with so far is Moser.

 

I went with Strange Engineering, ordered some axles for my T a few months ago and they had good customer service and the axles looked to be quality so called them back again.

 

Pretty interesting stuff there.

The '95-'01 Explorer rear disc brakes requires a 'Torino style' large axle bearing (4) bolt backing plate flange pattern on the ends of the axle tubes, to bolt up to a 9-inch rear end housing.

Bumps/Dents with a 9-inch rear have the 'old style' large axle bearing 3.500" x 2.375" (4) bolt flange backing plate pattern.

Does the '84 Bronco 9-inch rear end you have have the 3.582" x 2.00" (4) bolt flange pattern at the ends of the axle tubes?

 

Yes the 84 had the new style big ford also referee to as the torino bearings. An added benefit is the same brake offset and flange pattern to mount most aftermarket brake systems like willwood and the like. Also all the shock and spring mounts are the same as the dents.

 

I'm pretty sure the 1980-1983 Ford F100 9-inch rears with the 5-on-4.5" lug pattern axles are the same width as the '84 Bronco rear end. IF they are, the axles from the '80-'83 9-inch would probably swap into the Bronco housing.

 

They would probably swap just fine as long as you had the carrier to match. But my guess is they have the brake offset for drum brakes which is different than that needed for the disc setup.

 

Yeah, the axle wheel flange offset would have to be checked.

Most F100/F150 Dentsides with a 9-inch had 31-spline axles while some had 28-spline axles. All '80-'86 model Ford truck/Bronco 9-inch rear ends had 31-spline axles.

It's a little more complicated trying to figure out a rear disc brake solution on my truck, using Ford disc brake parts. I have a 1969 Ford F100 short bed Ranger with a 9-inch rear end, which is 4" (overall) narrower than a Dentside/Bullnose 9-inch rear end housing. None of the Bumpside 9-inch rears came with 31-spline axles. They were all 28-spline.

The only Bumpside F100s that had 31-spline axles was the '68-'72 F100s with a Ford 9-3/8" rear end. These axles are the same length as the Bumpside 9-inch 28-spline axles.

I got the 31-spline axles from a '71 F100 9-3/8" rear end and installed them in my truck's '69 9-inch housing. I have a Ford 9-inch N-case 3rd member with a 4-pinion 31-spline Traction-Lok differential I pulled from a '75 F150 4x4 truck and installed in my '69 9-inch housing.

My stock '69 C7AW-E 9-inch single track 3.50 3rd member on the left, '75 9-inch N-case Traction-Lok 3.50 3rd member on the right.




Stock '69 F100 9-inch 28-spline axle on the left. '71 F100 9-3/8" 31-spline axle on the right.







Some Ford disc brake parts I've been fooling around with to try and figure out a combination that would fit on the '69 F100 9-inch housing with the 5-on-5.5" lug pattern axles.



I've made adapter brackets to put later model Ford rear disc brakes onto older Mustang rear end housings (5-on-4.5" lug pattern) but, the 5-on-5.5" lug pattern and the much larger diameter of the axle wheel flange greatly cuts down on rotor possibilities for such a rear disc brake swap.

'94-'04 Cobra rear discs I adapted to a 1980 Mercury Monacrch 9-inch housing. --this originally was a drum brake rear end.

Before the swap.



After.






Brackets I designed to adapt the disc brake parts to the housing.




My first disc brake conversion; '84-'90 Lincoln Mk VII rear discs on a '59 Fairlane 9-inch rear end under a '65 Mustang, installed with brackets I designed.




3rd adapter brackets I designed to put '94-'04 SN95 Mustang V6/GT rear discs on early Mustang 8-inch or small axle bearing 9-inch rear end housing.






.

 

cleaned the heavy gunk off the housing today, think I might check out a powder coater this week if I can find some time. New axles should show up this week and got parts to rebuild my trac-loc. Slowly making progress.

 

Getting the trac loc all cleaned up and new parts ready

 

New axles showed up, look like a perfect fit, need to install the bearings and start moving forward on this!

 

Put new bearings on the axles today. Install is just like all other 9" bearings except you have to had a small spacer between the whee; flange and the bearing seal to account for the thicker Brake mount bracket. I got the spacers from Currie Enterprises.