So driving home last night, my rear end on my truck starts clacking and i know its about to blow up... How do i know this? well its the 4th time its going to happen. Yes i have had it rebuilt by a pro shop and all, but i dont think it can handle the 351+ the way i drive i guess.

So i was wondering if anyone has done a swap from the 8.8 to a 10.25 or a 9" and had thoughts on which will be stronger/easier/more logical/ect... cause getting my 8.8 rebuilt seems dumb by this point!

 

Never really thought about swapping out an already good axle. Maybe this profesional rebuilder does'nt know his stuff. I have rebuilt two of these axles and the failure is usually the front pinion shaft bearings. Both axles had a little over 200 k on them. You would have to deal with wheel bolt issues with the 10.25 and as old as the 9 inchers are you would probably have to rebuild it before useing.

 

Not 100% sure if all the 92-96's are like this but my speedo reads from the differential (8.8), not the tranny. So if that's the case with yours you'd have find a way to hook your speedo up. I know you can't hook the cable up to the 9".

 

9" wouldn't be an easy option to swap in due to your then lack of rear abs/cruse control/speedo/and E4OD shift strategy.

On top of that, stock for stock a 9" isn't much stronger than an 8.8 anyway.

So you want a big sterling? Ok, it'll go in, but now you are 8lug and bigger brake cylinders requiring two spares and a one ton master cylinder.

I'm doing that myself on a '79, but there will be a Dana 44 8lug solid axle up front in my future as well to make it all jive.



A bigger question is how do you "drive" to keep jackin' up axles? A mo bigga axle out back will just cause the next weak link to pop up.

Adrianspeeder

 

As was pointed out, your E4OD will not work without the VSS signal, nor will your speedo/odo or your ABS.

What exactly are you breaking in your 8.8"?

 

I vote 9". While stock for stock the 8.8 is similar in strength, the aftermarket of the 9" blows the 8.8 and 10.25 away. They are much easier to regear, you can find already setup 3rd's very cheap.The vss can be relocated pretty easily and you can swap disk brakes on pretty simple as well. There are 28 and 31 spline big and small bearing versions out there. You'll need to do some research before you plop down cash for a potentially weak pos 9". If you turn to the aftermarket you can set it up with 35 and 40 spline shafts. In the end you can build a rear end that's much stronger than the 8.8 and lighter than the 10.25. It's not going to be a bolt in swap, but it's the best option in my opinion But i'm bias since it's what I put in the back of my explorer haha

Bronco Graveyard is a good place if you want to put together a brand new axle.
http://broncograveyard.com/bronco/b-419

Disk brake options:
"Bolt on" disks. Ford put a bunch of different ends on their 9"s. Make sure that the bolt pattern of your's will work with whatever kit you use.

http://completeoffroad.com/i-159427-...brake-kit.html

http://www.jegs.com/i/Right-Stuff/965/ZDCRD05/10002/-1

Here's the one I did. I made caliper brackets, used bravada calipers, and samurai front rotors.
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/...d.php?t=212307

9" speed sensor relocator:
http://www.breaautoelectric.com/products/products1.html

35/40 spline full floater kits
http://www.9inchfloater.com/RrEndKit...Kits_35_40.htm

 

That speed sensor runs off the pinion not off the ring like the ford sensor. Do you know for a fact that it will work properly in his application?

 

I've never run one I was just showing that it is possible. My explorer's vss was just used for the abs, which was torn out and thrown away so there was no need for anything like this. These mount to the drive shaft yoke. This re-locator kit does require you to provide the gear ratio and tire size to duplicate stock signal. I have seen guys build their own tone rings as well and they did work

I would suggest that anyone give them a call and discuss the part though before jumping into it.

Here's a build up of a currie 9" where they use this relocator kit. Same type of truck too.
http://offroad.automotive.com/124856...xle/index.html

This thread has a guy that used it:
http://fullsizebronco.com/forum/show...nsor+relocator

Another relocator from a different builder. (bottom of page)
http://fullsizebronco.com/forum/show...+Auto+Electric

Another at the bottom of this one
http://www.race-dezert.com/forum/sho...d.php?p=258225

Here's one where they put the 8.8 tone ring in the 9" chunk
http://www.race-dezert.com/forum/sho...+sensor&page=2

I was bored so I killed some time searching for more info. Seems there are enough people who have used it to verify it's effectiveness. It would require more work and money than a new 8.8 (which can still be upgraded) or the 10.25. I think the 9" has enough advantages to make it worth it IF you want to upgrade and have room to grow...but that's just me.

 

One of my buddies did this same swap to a 10.25 in his bronco, i went with the 10.25 cause it was way easier to find and he said it would be a lot smoother of a swap to do. Also i found one out of a 97 250 that only had 60k miles on it at pick and pull so i got it and the sway bar + drums for 200bucks. Also the abs sensor was going to be a pain in a 9" so i just figured this would be easier anyway, due to it has the sensor. As for those crappy E4OD's i didn't like that very much either so i ripped it out and threw in a M5OD, so that's not a problem. As for rims/clearance i am running a 17" rim so it shouldn't be a problem, Although i have 2 buy 2 new rims and run an 8 lug in the back sucks, but it shouldn't be too much of a hassle.

 

Good deal man,you got any pictures of the setup. As for the 5-speed swap, if you tore up the rearend 4 times i would buy up as many m5od transmissions as i could. They are not the strongest when not maintained and abused.

 

well im not going to lie, the 8.8 i had was hammered, i snapped the actual pumpkin off of the axel housing and had to twist it back around to line it back up again, and then i rewelded it back into position, but it prob was at the wrong angle which led to blowing up these rear ends... i used to drive it hard but not so much any more the last regear on the 8.8 i had done was abou 10 months ago, adn i didnt even drive it hard it just blew up.

 

these are my trucks(always a work in progress)



this is my driveline after the pumpkin detached from the housing and spun the driveline free till it got pinned against my frame.



and this is the axel i just bought for 200 bucks, 10.25 with 60k miles

 

oops sorry for the large photos...

 

I just bought a dana 60 from an 82 f250 at my local junkyard for $50 couldnt pass it up and i have already ordered the 4.88 gears , lock right locker, and master install kit with all new lines and wheel cylinders ...

 

took me about 5 hours to do the swap, just waitin for my drive line to be shortened and bleed the brakes and go....