Looking at front and rear axle differences. There's a guy that regularly parts out wrecked SuperDuty trucks on the local CraigsList. The biggest thing he has to get rid of are rolling frames, meaning I can score front and rear axles, springs, everything for fairly cheap...

Looking at a thread here:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-write-up.html

I see that 2008-2010 Axles may be an option... At least up front. Looking to see if a rear might be an option as well.

I've heard that 2008+ rear springs may be an option as well with this kit:
'08 Spring Hanger Conversion for '99-07

Was any improvement made to 2008+ rear axles? Was anything done to them that'd make the later axle harder to swap into a 2007 or earlier?

 

Bump.

Anybody?

 

Wish I could help you there.

With newer axles you'll need new wheels, as the backspacing on your Ex is different than the '05+ Super Duty wheels. Your front axle is a Dana 50, and the newer (2003-present IIRC) Super Duties use a Dana 60 or Super 60. So you'd gain a bit of front end beef by upgrading the front, but I believe the sterling rear axle is almost the same. Of course you'd want to swap out both or none at all unless you want to run mismatched wheels.

 

Yeah. I have wheel spacers for the late wheels on my existing axles. As soon as my 16 inch tires won't pass inspection, I'm putting on 2005-2007+ 17 inch wheels.

It seems with these drivetrain swaps, the tires seem to be an "unplanned" expense. What's worse is you swap and have the truck up on stands unmovable while you're waiting on the tires to be delivered.

Went through this with my Dodge... The bigger 2003+ brake rotors and calipers bolt up to 2001 axles.

 

The rotor size was increased in 2005 and 16" wheels won't fit. I will also note that the frame chanced in 2008. I'm not sure if anything changed as far as sway bar or shock mounting locations but your best bet would be with 05-07 units.

 

Yeah, I know 2005-2007 will work. I was wondering what was up with the 2008-2010 axles.

The frame changed, but what about the axle?

 

well, I bought a 08 DRW axle by mistake and it doesn’t bolt up to a 07

 

The 2008-2010 front sway bar mounts differently than on the 2005-2007. I installed a 2008 rear in a 2004 frame. The rear shock are staggered on the 2008 axle. (ie: shock front and rear) whereas the 2004 was not staggered. The 2004 rear had the u-joint mounted to the pinion, the 2008 uses a flange.

What I did take a lesson on was the e-brake...I know you are asking about '05-'07 vs '08-'10...but the e-cables are different....and the mechanism (scissors) in the rear, that work the e-brake has a different attachment. I could have saved a whole bunch of work by switched the e-brake mechanism and retained the 2004 e-brake cables. The axle I bought had the backing plates just bent all to crap, so I replaced them. Which requires a new rear axle seal....and I'm not ruining another seal to swap out the e-brake mechanism.

 

I know this was a while back, but I am about to swap an 08 axle into my 96. Would you happen to know what's required here in regards to the E-brake mechanism?

 

The 2008+ Sterling 10.5 has a different VSS setup. We're used to the little sensor on the top of the diff and the diff having a tone ring. But from what I remember, the newer trucks have two sensors out at each rear wheel.

There's a guy on YouTube who used the newer trucks factory e-locker, and put it in his '05-'07 rear axle. He said it saved him a few hundred!

As for the front end, I'm starting a coil swap on my '04. I've read to stay away from the 2008+ trucks because the coil buckets, radius arms, and a few other things take a lot more work to fit. Where as the 2005-2007 is practically bolt up.

Some frame and suspension images from when the 2005 Superduty was announced: (Items in red are the changes)

 

If I were you , I would spend some time researching what the differences in the e-brake scissors are between the '96 and the '08. As I said in my older reply from '04 to '08 they are different. I'd probably just order new e-brake scissors for the '96 and compare them to the '08. If the '96 one are drop in...then you can run the '96 e-brake cables.

 

So Dan, I'm looking into this for my 2001 Excursion. Have pricing on 08, 10 & 11 axles for the swap. Given you've stepped through this before, I have to ask, would you do it again? Was it that much of a PITA that you would look for 05-07 axles if you had to do it again?