8.8 rear end swap
- Thread starter dapenberthy
- Start date
Ok...good move then...a lot of people want to swap out an 8" for an 8.8 and unless you are grunting out over 400 horses and beating it to death every weekend at the track, the 8" should hold up fine....but surely someone on here will be able to help you out with that info....unfortunately thats not me, good luck with your conversion!
brianj5600
Active Member
What did it come out of? Are talking dust shields? Explorer 8.8? I had a 95GT 8.8 in mine with 02ish MachI wheels on mine w/o spacers and it worked fine. I also had 15x8 wheels with 5.5 be with 275/50/15 drag radials.
horseballz
10 Year Member
The supposed problem is that if it came from a Ranger or Explorer, the pinion (the part the drive shaft mounts to) is off center to the right side. Some claim this causes no issue, others claim drive shaft rubbing/exhaust clearance issues/drive shaft angle problems and still others shorten the driver side tube about 3 inches and use a right side shaft for the left. In stock form from an Explorer it will be 1/2" wider overall than your original in the 68 and if you shorten the left tube to center the pinion it will be 2 1/2" narrower the the 68. I've seen a couple "How-To" articles on this and will post a link if I can find it.
HTH,
Gene
HTH,
Gene
I know a lot of people say to keep the 8" but I am also thinking of going with an 8.8. I think that with an 8.8 you can find a decent newer rear end with 3.55 or 3.73 gears, limited slip, and disc brakes for cheaper than it would take to fix up the 8". I could be wrong though. I am interested in what others think.
331efiblue66
Member
I used an explorer axle in mine, and probably for the same reasons most of the others did. Big bearing tube ends, 31 spline axles, disc brakes, oem parts readily and cost effectively available. The swap wasn't terribly difficult, just time consuming. To cure the offset pinion problem, I cut off both tube ends and swapped them side for side, and cut off the needed dimension from the driver side tube to get the overall width correct, then welded the ends back on, and ordered new axles from Moser. Working on sawhorses in my garage with a tape measure, I came out within 1/16" of the same width as the stock axle. Now that I have my wheels/tires bought, I wish I would have taken another 1/2" out while I was doing it....In short, make a plan to suit your needs/wants/budget and go for it.
I guess that just depends on what you wanted out of your rear, im not ever going to road race my car, so the factory rear drums are more than adequate. I guess it just depends also on what 8.8 you find...if you find one with some desirable gears and limited slip and could get it for a couple hundred bucks then i could see doing a swap, provided you have the skills/tools to do the swap yourself without having to pay someone to fab it up for you. The 8.8 is a great rear end, i would imagine if I found the right combo for the right price I might would do the swap myself...i have those dinky 2.79 gears and one tire fire and I definately want to fix that soon, but its going to cost me 700 bucks to do that with a new posi, gears, and a bearing kit.
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