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Don't take my advice as gospel but based on my experience rebuilding the 9" rear in my '84 F150 I'd just clean the race area of the housing real good and get it smooth again. As for the studs I wouldn't trust anything that's press fit to reuse. Just my thoughts. I very much enjoy following the progress on this build, thanks for keeping this thread updated.
Thanks! I tried to pound one of the studs out without any luck...So I took a wire wheel to the studs and face of the housing and got all of the rust off without making the surface uneven. Going to clean everything up this weekend and get painted before I get the differentials back.
On another note, The guy I got the seats from is pulling out the complete blue interior (trim, panels everything) and I will be picking this all up in a week or so. Beats trying to paint my ugly red stuff and its all in really good shape.
So I went ahead and ordered the 3.70 & 3.73 ring and pinion gears and all new bearings for the differentials. I also went ahead and bought new rear axles since the splines were a bit chewed up and I got it all from Jeffs Bronco Graveyard with a 10% discount.
While I am waiting on this stuff to arrive, I sandblasted and coated the drum brake backing plates and cleaned up the rear differential housing.
Took another look at the front spindles and I am not sure if I should reuse these or not. The bearing surfaces look ok, but the rest of these are pretty beat up. New spindles would run about $250 so not sure if it is worth the cost or not...any input would be appreciated. I can blast and clean the rest of them up, just not sure if its worth the risk/effort?
Those don’t look good. The outer bearing bearing surface in the top picture isn’t great. Can you catch the pitting with a finger nail? I’d be inclined to replace them now instead of putting that on the “to do” list for later.
Last edited by My4Fordtrucks; Apr 12, 2026 at 05:30 PM.
Those don’t look good. The outer bearing bearing surface in the top picture isn’t great. Can you catch the pitting with a finger nail? I’d be inclined to replace them now instead of putting that on the “to do” list for later.
yeah…they are pitted enough to make me uncomfortable. Guess I’ll just throw some more money at this hahaha. Thanks, just needed someone to talk some sense into me and do it right the first time.
So I went ahead and ordered and picked up new spindles, brake dust shields, rocker panels and rear quarters from Jeffs Bronco Graveyard while passing through on a work trip. Also stopped and picked up all the blue interior from the same seller that I got the seats from. I think I have al the body repair panels I need, but will likely be a year before I send the body off for work and paint...Not sure if I need to paint the dust shields as they say "coated" on their site, but not sure what with...Will likely just paint them chassis black as well. running out of room Blue interior needs cleaned, but in good shape for the most part old vs. new old vs. new new rear quarters
Love the progress pics. Gonna be real nice when its all done. I would paint the dust shields just so they won't stick out like a sore thumb. Not sure if you were planning to do the metal work on the body but I have found a very good Youtube chanel, Fitzee's Fabrications. The guy is very good at metal work and explaining his process.
Love the progress pics. Gonna be real nice when its all done. I would paint the dust shields just so they won't stick out like a sore thumb. Not sure if you were planning to do the metal work on the body but I have found a very good Youtube chanel, Fitzee's Fabrications. The guy is very good at metal work and explaining his process.
OK I will paint the dust shields to match. As far as the body work goes...I originally wanted to sandblast the body myself (by building another containment in the garage, but that was quite the process haha. I have toyed around with using the surface conditioner to remove the paint and damaged areas so that I could weld all of the patch panels on. I only have a TIG welder and am not good by any means. I will definately check this channel out and see if I can muster the courage to try and tackle this myself. I am trying to do this thing on a budget, so it would make sense to do it myself.
Since I am still waiting on the differentials to be rebuilt, I took a look at the future body work this thing needs and am really thinking this will be too much for me and my non existent welding skills to tackle. I have the same patch panels pictured below for the driver side along with a new rear cross sill, new tailgate, new hood, new fenders, new core support, and new doors...Taped up some of the patch panels to get an idea of coverage.
The body work alone will likely be more than buying a $5000 body from out west and having it shipped here...Really torn on what to do. Might see if there is someone local that wants to try to tackle the body work on the side, but I'm sure its still going to be pricey...
No better time than right NOW to learn to weld
I took a class in college in 1978 just to do some body work on my 69 Boss 302
Fast forward to TODAY
They glue panels in with structural adhesives specially made for body panels
Same with the differentials
No better time to learn to swap gears and set up a ring and pinion than right NOW
That rust doesn't look too bad from the pics. You don't have to use the whole patch panel, just cut out what is rotted. No need to replace good factory metal. Fitzee has a technique that makes it nearly idiot proof to patch panels. Don't really need a fancy welder either, flux core will work with some practice and a little extra grinding. I think you can do it, especially with what you have done with the frame.
Moisture inside the housing and it sat for a while. I assume the corrosion on the ring gear was above the gear oil.
You looked around the whole outside of the ring gear? There should be more numbers stamped in there that will tell you the ratio.
So I finally got by differentials back from a buddy who rebuilt them for me. Everything appears ok....but I noticed one of the carrier bearing caps not tightened all the way...now I need to go check torque on every bolt just to ease my mind that nothing else was missed...
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