Rear Diff Mesurements.

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tekatlarge
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Rear Diff Mesurements.

Post by tekatlarge »

I got a question bout rear ends!

You know the mechanicaL type..

I have an old ford 8 in rear and when I was measuring it I discovered the pinion is NOT in the center but offset to one side. I know front diffs are offset but this rear housing was supposed to have come from a car.

At any rate has anyone measured a Bronco ii or Ranger rear housing? Is it also offset and by how much.

Thanks,
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DBrown
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Post by DBrown »

ok, here is my stab at this...

you BII should have 1 of 2 style driveshafts. a junk CV axle style or a 3 ujoint style that people call CV's also. I also want to say that the BII rear is centered, but not sure...

the pinion angles are going to have to be set so. if I were you I would measure how offset the rear yoke is to the frame rails...ie is it centered or is it off a little to one side. then look at the rear you are planning to run and see if the center of the yoke is in the same direction. if it is then you might be able to use the 3 ujoint style driveshaft. the most important thing to that style shaft is that it has to go straight into the yoke from side to side to avoid vibration or destroying ujoints. it is also very easy to set the angle on that style because it just needs to be set at zero with just a few degrees down to compensate for the wrap that the axle will do when under acceleration.

that being said...I have heard that you can be up to 10 degrees off before you will notice any vibration but you will still be hard on ujoints.

if you plan to run the other style drive shaft (2 ujoint) then you will probably be able to get away with the offset rear because it has more room for error where the side to side offset is concerned. but it is more complicated to set up.

I recommend that you look over on pirate and read up on how to set pinion angles before you go any farther because I have only done like 2 and I have yet to drive the second one to know if it is right or not.
71 Bronco - twin sticked, full width, 2" lift, wristed arm, lots of rust...

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tekatlarge
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Post by tekatlarge »

Hello there DBrown,

I agree with what your saying 100%. However I do believe I might have been confusing in my first post. :confused: :confused: :confused:

I was just looking for info on the various housings as I am looking at a completely different project. :idea: I was also amazed at what I measured on this old 8-inch housing a guy gave me last year. He told me the housing was from a 1950 to 55 sedan that should have been centered.
I just normally assumed all rear end housings measured equidistant from backing plate or flange to the center of the pinion shaft.
After looking at that old 8-in I have lying outback, it measured out with a significant offset so I want to find out who is off kilter.

I apologize for any confusion this might have caused. :confused:

This is the info I am looking for: Rear end style = B2 or ranger or exploder or any housing you have lying around.
I need the measurement from left end of axle tube (flange) to the center of the pinion shaft. Then I need the measurement from right flange to center of the pinion shaft.

That will get me the offset info I need.

Thanks again all
:confused:
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Post by NMB2 »

the center section is offest the pinion is almost perfectly center...or should be...not sure about yours cuz its really old.. they changed them up in 67. 67+ is the better axle.
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Post by DBrown »

from what I remember I think the BII is centered but the ranger is offset to get the driveshaft past the gas tank. I don't know about the exploder rears because I have never paid much attention to them when I have seen them. I don't have anything laying around other then 9"s and one 8" from a 64 falcon. sorry I can't help more then that...I'm sure someone will post up some measurements though...
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Post by Nobody »

Neither the Bronco II or the Ranger are centered. The Ranger is offset slightly more for fuel tank clearance.
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tekatlarge
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Post by tekatlarge »

Exelent info.. Thats what I was looking for. One last thing for DBrown. You said you had an 8-in around? Could you throw a tape measure on that and check it for me.

Thanks again.
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Post by NMB2 »

Tek.... that IS an 8" under my B2...what are you looking for??
tell me the year/model the axle came from and i will tell you its width.

a 64 Falcon is 58" WMS to WMS

the measurements on my 8" are hard to get because i have my wheels on...but my axle is 60.5" WMS to WMS. i cant measure my WMS to Pinion on each side but what i can do is measure the width of flange to flange and then flange to pinion.

Housing width is 51" flange to flange
Left tube flange to pinion center was 25.75"
Right tube flang to pinion center was 25.25"

1/2" offest on this particular housing.
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Post by tekatlarge »

84bronco2 wrote:Tek.... that IS an 8" under my B2...what are you looking for??

Housing width is 51" flange to flange
Left tube flange to pinion center was 25.75"
Right tube flange to pinion center was 25.25"

1/2" offset on this particular housing.
That is exactally what I am looking for. You have 1/2 inch offset on your 8.
My axle was supposed to be from a 1950 to 1955 ford passenger car. When I got it home I measured I think it was 1/2 inch of offset. Now imagine my surprise when I thought all passenger cars had no offset. So I figured I would look at the explorer and other axles. Not sure if it is offset or not. I had heard that the Ranger or B2 had an offset but wasn't sure if it was one or both.
Well it looks like a mustang 8.8 or maybe even a 9. The 9's are so damn expensive to get started with. I will still have to mock up the housing to determine optimum width. Thank goodness I have all of the various rear end width measurements.
Ah but here I go rambling on. Thanks for the info..

Happy days,
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Post by NMB2 »

the Cougar has a 0 offset and the mustang has very little offset. my housing is from a medium sized passenger car.
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Post by NMB2 »

i got a better pic of the rear...my d-shaft actually doesnt have any offset..its totally center..so either i measured off just a tad or the B2 t-case output is offcenter as well. what exactly are you trying to do.

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Post by tekatlarge »

84bronco2 wrote:i got a better pic of the rear...my d-shaft actually doesnt have any offset..its totally center..so either i measured off just a tad or the B2 t-case output is offcenter as well. what exactly are you trying to do.
What am I trying to do?

I am trying to work out some chassis dimensions for my 23 T Coup project. Although I am using coil over in the rear I was looking at several inexpensive diff housings to use. If I use a Rear that has offset it is going to change tire clearance from side to side. Even a little bit of offset would be noticicable.

I know everyone will want to know why I don't use a 9. Simple... I don't have one or any available for low or no cost. I can get a B2,Ranger,Or xploder dif and a must 8.8 for a song and a dance (kinda hard to dance in a wheelchair) but anything is possible.

With such a light car.. 1700Lbs even a 7.5 would be strong enough for some casual street driving. That is as long as I keep tire size real and don't jump on it as a daily habit!

So anyway that is my story and I am stickin to it!!
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