ford 9 inch for rear upgrade

[txcanvasback]

76 wag,th400,quadratrac. is ford 9 inch rear end good up grade, if so what to use. want to increase towing capability and off road moderatly

[FSJ Thing]

Yes, a ford 9" will improve towing and wheeling ability moderately. I had a 9" in the back of my first Wag. In hindsight, I wish I had gone with a 14FF which would increase towing and wheeling ALOT for about the same money. My 9" came out of a 70 somethin Murcury car, don't remember which one, and increased the rear track width by 5 inches, 2.5 inches on each side. The spring pirches had to be moved in about 3/4" to line up with the spring pins. The only problem I ran into with the 9" is it had funny ring and pinion sizes. I had to run a 5.88 in the front D44 and 5.86 in the 9".

EDIT>>>For the 9" to be stronger, you'd want the 33 spline 9" with the big berings. Another beni to the 9" is parts are everywhere and cheap as dirt. Also, I got a good deal on currie axleshafts that someone else had ordered and then cancelled to make the axles 6 on 5.5. It set me back over $400 bucks and that was a steal. You'll probably have to pay more than that.

[ September 14, 2004, 09:18 AM: Message edited by: J-truck Thing ]

[Tad]

I really doubt a 9" is noteably stronger than your current 44. For just the items you mentioned above I think you'd be better off looking at a better gearing setup.

[scotty]

i agree with tad. the ford 9 inch is the most over-rated axle in the history of axles. in a stocker you get 31 splines at best,a lower pinion than anything,and the likely hood of twisting the centersection right out of the housing if you apply too much power with too much traction. this is especially true with bigger tires.

people will say "the 9 inch is great you can get shafts,nodualr centers,blah blah blah" and the reality is that you got to spend ALOT of $$ on a ford 9" to make it as strong as a $50 gm 14 bolt.

my $.02 anyway

[FSJ Thing]

Originally posted by scotty:


people will say "the 9 inch is great you can get shafts,nodualr centers,blah blah blah" and the reality is that you got to spend ALOT of $$ on a ford 9" to make it as strong as a $50 gm 14 bolt.

my $.02 anyway

I do think that the way that the 9" housing is designed, that it is stronger than a D44, but it is definitely over rated. I was new to this forum when I built the 9" for mine. It cost me about $600 total and most of that was for the shafts. I got the housing for $30, the pigshead for $10 a spool for $50, R&P for $15, bearings for $10,backing plates were practically free, etc. I do wish that I would have got a 14FF instead. At the time though, all the friends I had that knew the difference between a tube nut wrench and a pair of oil filter pliers where big into NASCAR (suprisingly big in Cheyenne) so the 9" was the ends all wins all to them and that's what I went with. Unless you already have the 9" sitting on your shop floor you'd be better off grabbing a 14FF, definitely.

[Brad W.]

save the time and effort. get a rear dana 60 full floater from an '80's dodge 3/4 ton (Ram 250). It is a bolt in swap. even the stock riveshaft might work, provided you aren't lifting it a huge amount at the same time.

the dodge Dana 60's are 30-spline and full floater, and will increase track width about 4"-5" (I don't remember off the top of my head). I did this swap my self, and it came out great.