alternatives to an 8.75- what about an explorer 8.8?

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happster

happster

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anyone use an 8.8" rear end out of a ford explorer? they came with discs, and i would assume they're a similar width, they're also 5 on 4.5 so it'd be a great way of keeping the same bolt pattern front and back. i would love some more in depth info if anyone has some. thanks!
 
Somewhere on here there was an article about this swap. Sounded like everything worked good. I'm still new to this site, so sorry I can't be of much help. I hope you get some replys, I'm checking on the same swap. I hear most Eddie Bauer editons came with "limited slip".
 
yes. the explorers also had 31-spline axles, and are very common in the offroad world for jeepers and ranger people, so they have lots of aftermarket parts available. it'd probably be very easy if you didn't find one with LS in it already to find an aftermarket trutrac or trac loc for it.


it seems the length hub-to-hub on these is about 59.75"- wouldn't that be perfect for an A body? i'm a little concerned about the offset of the pinion though.


i know a thing a lot of ford guys do is they take the axle tubes and do a couple more plug welds to the housing, as they have a tendency to actually break the factory plug weld and turn the tube.... which is bad. they're really pressed in there, so it's a lot easier to put this worry at ease before anything happens
 
wow, great link! thanks a lot! doesn't seem like it was too difficult for them.
 
I'm just beefing up my 8.25 rear end. They can take a good bit of power and are easily upgradeable to Jeep rear disc brakes in 4x4.5 bolt pattern.
 
My take on all this is, why not find a '69, or so, B-body housing, remove the spring pads, and re-weld them 1/2" EACH, inboard?

Then, you only have to find some 4.5" bolt circle wheels with 4.5" backspacing and you have a rear end that is all MoPar, and has the right tread width (that's what they used to call the center-to-center distance between wheels) for an A Body....

This gives you a drop-out center section, and all MoPar parts... arguably as strong as a Ford 8.8"...

Just a thought.

B Body rear housings are not as expensive as A Bodys, I think, and are easier to find.

Just make sure it came from the right year B-Body... I THINK '69-'72, but don't take that to the bank... I could be wrong on that.
 
Bill Dedman said:
My take on all this is, why not find a '69, or so, B-body housing, remove the spring pads, and re-weld them 1/2" EACH, inboard?

Then, you only have to find some 4.5" bolt circle wheels with 4.5" backspacing and you have a rear end that is all MoPar, and has the right tread width (that's what they used to call the center-to-center distance between wheels) for an A Body....

This gives you a drop-out center section, and all MoPar parts... arguably as strong as a Ford 8.8"...

Just a thought.

B Body rear housings are not as expensive as A Bodys, I think, and are easier to find.

Just make sure it came from the right year B-Body... I THINK '69-'72, but don't take that to the bank... I could be wrong on that.
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How often do we find B body axles, though? I'd either have to ship one or travel a long distance to pick one up....

What is intriguing about the 8.8 is I could run across town (and it's a small town) and pick one up for a few hundred bucks...

It'd be nice to have all mopar, But I am taking the 8.8 option very seriously...
 
The 8.8 uses c-clips to retain the axles. So you might want to look at a c-clip eliminator kit. Don't want your axle and wheel passing you after a hard launch.
 
this is true about the b body housings. i could find one of those very easily, but IIRC the width is way different. i'd love an 8.75 as i am a big banjo rear end fan, but at the same time 8.8s are just so dang common! are they really only an inch wider than the A housings?
 
Maybe I'l living in the past, but there were so many B-Bodies built (compared to A-Bodies), it has always looked to me like they were everywhere... but, I haven't been in a Mopar junkyard in a couple of years.


The spec sheet I have may be incorrect, but I've attached it, so you can look at the housing widths. I knew a guy who installed one in his '70 Duster and didn't even bother to move the spring pads over; just pulled the leaf springs half-inch sideways and bolted it down. I certainly don't recommend that, but it didn't give him any problems for the few years I knew about the car. He didn't even bother to get 4.5" back-spaced wheels... just used B-Body 4.5" bolt pattern, steel wheels. No fender interference, but, it was close, at the lip.

I can't vouch for the accuracy of this chart. If it's incorrect, somebody please tell me; I'll delete it from my files.

Hope this helps...

image0-3.jpg
 
I know a Ford 8" out of a Maverick or Granada was a direct bolt in for my GTS. I never ran it or hooked up the brakes. Used it to roll the car around. The only problem is you need to fight the 4 bolt older Mustang/Falcon guys for them. If your going to mess with an 8.8, why not use the Mustang one, it's pumpkin is centered and there are tons of 5 bolt axles, some stock ones with wider widths and tons of brakes options, just weld on your perches and remove the 4 link stuff.
 
You can use the Ranger 5 lug axles left side only in the Mustang 8.8 to convert it to 5 lug, 1986 to 1996 were the better rear ends from the Fox body mustang but not sure why anymore, memory thing...
 
Rick 5150 69 said:
You can use the Ranger 5 lug axles left side only in the Mustang 8.8 to convert it to 5 lug, 1986 to 1996 were the better rear ends from the Fox body mustang but not sure why anymore, memory thing...
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-85-93 are four lug axles 9" drum*
-94-98 housing length same as above, longer 5 lug axles and disc brakes
-99-04 same housing as above, even loner 5 lug axles and disc brakes.
-88-89 Thunderbird Turbo coupe 3.55 gears in 5 speed cars and 3.73 in Auto, has 4 bolt and rear disc
-83-92 Lincoln MK VII 5 lug 11" disc brakes

*accept 1993 cobra, disc brakes.
 
I was looking up and down for a 8 &3/4 rear end. I read up on the articles. I have a 73 duster, found a 8.8 out of a explorer on craigs list for about $150. Took it to a drive train shop the guy knew what I wanted to do. he cut the rear end and added new strange axles. When it was all done with him I spent $500 bucks. Got my driveshaft conversion for about $20 took the guy like 15 mins. Went home bolt everything up, the 8.8 had 373 gears in it. I'm happy. It lays down rubber and goes. The car ran 16's up here at Bandimere are I'm about to take it up soon to see what it will run now. I wanted a 8 3/4 but the ford worked out for me. The pinion angle is off on the rearend to begin with you have to get it cut. As long as you drivetrain guy knows what he is doing then thats no problem. I know i'm not the only one doing it in my arear cause when I went to pic my rearend up there where two more 8.8 there for A bodies about to get cut also.
 
Mcduster said:
I was looking up and down for a 8 &3/4 rear end. I read up on the articles. I have a 73 duster, found a 8.8 out of a explorer on craigs list for about $150. Took it to a drive train shop the guy knew what I wanted to do. he cut the rear end and added new strange axles. When it was all done with him I spent $500 bucks. Got my driveshaft conversion for about $20 took the guy like 15 mins. Went home bolt everything up, the 8.8 had 373 gears in it. I'm happy. It lays down rubber and goes. The car ran 16's up here at Bandimere are I'm about to take it up soon to see what it will run now. I wanted a 8 3/4 but the ford worked out for me. The pinion angle is off on the rearend to begin with you have to get it cut. As long as you drivetrain guy knows what he is doing then thats no problem. I know i'm not the only one doing it in my arear cause when I went to pic my rearend up there where two more 8.8 there for A bodies about to get cut also.
Click to expand...


Can you post pics?!?!? I'm really interested in this conversion....
 
I have an explorer 8.8 under my 68 Dart, I did the swap about a year ago and it seems to be fine so far, the one I used came from a 97 w/80k and has 4.10's and a trac lok.

I did it as cheap as possible just to see if it would work, I had the dr side cut down and used a short pass side axle on the dr side, took about 2.5" off the total width and is 57" flange to flange. The driveshaft was real simple, it's the same length as one for a 8.75 car, since I already had 7290 U joints I just used a 1330-7290 adaptor U joint at the rear. I'm running 15x7 wheels with 3.5" backspace and they sit dead center in the stock wheelwells, the car had stock width A body 8.75 with B body brakes before and needed 4.5" backspace to keep the tires away from the fenderlips.
 
Joe,

That's lots of really well-detailed and accurate advice, there.

Thanks a lot for posting that!

Glad it's worked out so well for you!
 
MoparJoe20 said:
I have an explorer 8.8 under my 68 Dart, I did the swap about a year ago and it seems to be fine so far, the one I used came from a 97 w/80k and has 4.10's and a trac lok.

I did it as cheap as possible just to see if it would work, I had the dr side cut down and used a short pass side axle on the dr side, took about 2.5" off the total width and is 57" flange to flange. The driveshaft was real simple, it's the same length as one for a 8.75 car, since I already had 7290 U joints I just used a 1330-7290 adaptor U joint at the rear. I'm running 15x7 wheels with 3.5" backspace and they sit dead center in the stock wheelwells, the car had stock width A body 8.75 with B body brakes before and needed 4.5" backspace to keep the tires away from the fenderlips.
Click to expand...


Very cool! Do you have any pics?
 
not sure this will help but i put an 8.8 in my streetrod mine came out of a lincoln because i needed the bigger hub to hub size from what i read they are a very good rear guys are running the in 10 sec. cars pulling the front wheel of the ground but why did i choice the 8.8 the big reason was dics brakes and they make 2 different dics. brakes set up for that rear one is a drum in the rotor (i didn't use that style) the other uses a different calipier that the e-barke is hooked up to a cam built into the calipier that the E-barke cable hooks to when you put the e-brake on it clamps the calipier to the rotor and i like it
 
cuhemida said:
not sure this will help but i put an 8.8 in my streetrod mine came out of a lincoln because i needed the bigger hub to hub size from what i read they are a very good rear guys are running the in 10 sec. cars pulling the front wheel of the ground but why did i choice the 8.8 the big reason was dics brakes and they make 2 different dics. brakes set up for that rear one is a drum in the rotor (i didn't use that style) the other uses a different calipier that the e-barke is hooked up to a cam built into the calipier that the E-barke cable hooks to when you put the e-brake on it clamps the calipier to the rotor and i like it
Click to expand...


As far as the system for the rear disks, that's the way to go. The mini drum style e-brake can be a nightmare getting the rotor off for replacement. Smack it off from the backside and pop shoe hardware all over the world do to a ridge of rust, or delaminate the shoe lining and have to hunt down the shoes. I've actually had to cut the rotor in half with a torch before to save the e-brakes because the idiot service writer forgot to tell the customer that further cost may be incurred once the system is apart.
Just remember that if you use the cam style the pistons don't push back into the caliper, they screw back in, taking a tool meant for that, that screws and pushes at the same time. If you have a gut you can prop a big screwdriver against your belly and lean on the piston while you turn it in with a big pair of channel locks.
Remember, too, that these brakes can be modified to fit 8 1/4's.
The 8.8 isn't bulletproof! Like all rears running big horse (if you have it) it will need some beefing. Ask any Ford shop building these things constanty for Mustang owners who think they can mod an engine, leave the rear and tranny alone, and go drag racing every other weekend (ask me how I know.)
 
Judge Mills said:
Very cool! Do you have any pics?
Click to expand...

Yeah I'll have to dig them up later since they are on my other comp, I also had to relocate the rear brakeline to the framerail forward of the axle instead of over it, on the rear I used the stock ford steel line and hoses.
 
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