I haven't posted for a while, but not much has been happening til now. I have just picked up a new (To me) '88bII and thought I would throw out a question. My other '88bII has a totally custom lift so any mods become somewhat coslty and complicated. This new one is pure stock so I get to play with it from the ground up. As to the rear axle... I would assume the 9" ford would be acceptable but have heard, in the past, that the c-clips can cause some flex problems (More pointedly, they might fail all together in high flex situations). As I understand it some of the higher bolt-count rears don't have them at all (Gm, etc.). So my question is: How much of a choice (Considering practicality) do I actually have in all this? And am I running close to going 'overboard' by even considering something else (Beside the F9")?

Thank you for any responses.

 

Oh, some further info... I am located in the Northern California Sierra Nevada (Cascade) range so, conceptually, I am interested in building this rig as an all-'rounder (Snow: Definitely, mud: Yes, but not so much & rocks: Oh yeah, let there be ROCKS!) so flex (When is too much too much & and not enough just simply not enough?) is something I want to address, if anything at the very least, semi-seriously.
Thanks again.

 

Bronco II's use the 7.5 integral rear axle 1984/89, as do most Rangers.

But some Rangers also use the 8.8 rear end the F Series uses, with a narrower housing.

These two to be exact: WDR (non locking) and WFL (locking).

 

I believe you can get C-clip eliminators for the Ford 9" and 8.8. One of the "easier" popular swaps is to get a D35 and an 8.8 out of an early (91-94) Explorer, mostly because the 8.8 is a 31-spline setup like the Mustangs and is much stronger than the 28-spline Ranger 8.8. If you can find them, another popular swap is the D44 / 9" 71-77 Early Bronco axle swap. There are also other choices, such as Jeep Wagoneer axles, but that would probably require a lot more fabrication than the other swaps.

 

all the hard core rock crawling i've done..i've never seen a C clip fail..the alxe usually brakes or the carrier blows thru the housing. A very common problem on jeeps with a Dana 35 rear with a locker...seen that many many times out on the trails.

 

9" rear end don't have c-clips.

 

Ha ha! Good call! Just spoke with a buddy (Whom I trust with my life, just not with my wife...) who agrees... No c-clips in the ford 9". Thank you so much for the heads-up education! No wonder I could find no easy source of info on it! : ) Also Kernel-Panic, I have seen the c-clip eliminators and funny thing... (Odd before, but ironic now) I couldn't find one for the 9". Hmmm : ) Ok, ok, everyone say DUUUUH!!! in my honor. And thank you, everyone, for the enlightenment. Til the next dumb question (I'm sure I'm not through yet...)..... Travel on.

 

OOPS. I knew that the 9" didn't have C-clips, honest!! (okay, vain attempt at cover-up here, maybe... haha) Actually, I had posted that, and forgot about it, and was like... ahhh HELL... and didn't edit it after the fact. MY BUST too!!! LOL