Removing dogbone bracket.. bad news!

[Mavrick]

Read this post on the corral and i figure you guys might benefit from the info.

Corral Thread

To sum it up, when removing the dogbone from the 8.8 mustang rear end, be sure to re-install the bracket over top the rear end with shorter hardware to avoid wheelhop issues!

 

[HISSIN50]

i read that one and am not sure why one would remove it in the first place. afterward, we get all the threads about why they have DS vibes, etc, and dont know that they even removed it. the weight is in about as good a spot as you can have weight anyhow.

just my two cents.

 

[408stroker5.0]

From what I've read and heard the dog bone become's pretty much useless when aftermarket numerically higher gears are added. ?? Yes if factory gears are still in use then it is not recomended to remove the dog bone, but hell if you got aftermarket gear's then it sure dosn't hurt to remove some dead weight.
When I threw 3:73's in my 8.8 back in the day I removed the dog bone and had no problem's at all... No Wheel hop or balance problem's what so ever.

??????Interesting????

Shon

 

[stang22]

The dog bone topic is much like cross drilled-slotted rotors. The debate can and probably will go on forever. I took mine off and have not had any problems. I know several people have removed it with no problems either. I am pretty sure there was a reason for it, but not sure why because Ford never told us why. Just my 2 pennies worth...

Tim

 

[Michael Yount]

Devices like the dogbone are mass dampners. They are there to damp certain frequency based vibrations -- to eliminate resonances in a certain frequency range. They're quite common on the drivelines of cars - certain automatic tranny's over the years had rather large masses hung off the back for the same reason. The size, shape and location of the mass is important to its proper functioning. Ford likely discovered that under certain operating conditions over a long period of time vibrations in a certain frequency range could cause problems - precisely what, I don't know. But it usually involves something cracking or breaking.

I wouldn't expect you'd notice much of anything removing it - at least in the short term. What's going to happen long term is anyone's guess.

 

[Mavrick]

Not referring to the dogbone itself guys, they're referring to the plate that it bolts onto, that sits on top of the rear end, that is where the pinion snubber hits the axle... without it, aparently there could be problems. I wouldn't doubt it, because there are some pretty smart guys over there on the corral.

 

[Rick 91GT]

If you wind it up enought to hit the snubber you have other issues to take care of....

If you hit the snubber it will unload the tires anyway...

Really depends on what kind of rear suspension you have.

 

[Mavrick]

Cool.. seems to me that the corral makes a big deal out of mostly insignificant issues.

I trust you guys more though, just thought i'd bring it up.

 

[PNY PWR]

It's kinda common sense to put the snubber plate back on. I can't believe some actually didn't, that's too funny. I removed my dog bone and reinstalled the bracket w/ shorter bolts

 

[89MustangGX]

I seem to recall the 'top' of the bracket not being much more than sheetmetal plate -- I wouldn't think it's for much more than helping to mount the weight. I would think the rear end can handle itself against the rubber pinion snubber without the aid of a little piece of sheetmetal if that's what it's actually for.

With that said, I agree with Rick, if your bouncing off the pinion snubber, a little bracket is not going to help with traction issues.

 

[88stangmangt]

seriously..............................i had 4.10's on a old lx i had didnt have the dog bone had a vibe in it but i think that was outta balance tires..........

 

[90LX306]

i dont think that the arguement of higher numerical gears dont require a dogbone hols water becaust i recently swapped in a turbocoupe rear w/factory 3.55's and it had a dogbone on it and i just left it there. Ford engineer's are alittle smarter than i am i beleive so i figured if they put it there, there must have been a rason. Its not like ur going to drop a second in the 1/4 and pull 1g on a skid pad if u pull it off, what does it weigh a whole 10lbs?

 

[def1eppard]

Whats a dogbone anyways?

 

[timewarped1972]

the question is does everything equiped with an 8.8 have one, trucks included.
my guess would be because ford used the 8 and 9 inch for so long, when they came up with the 8.8, being it doesnt have a removeable carrier it's there to dampen vibration so there's less likelyhood of the housing fatigueing right there where the pinions at.
i left mine on, i suppose if weight is an issue most people could probably clean the garbage and extra crap they have in there cars out and save more weight than removing the dog bone....lol

 

[PNY PWR]

Rear ends have been around for quite a long time, w/o dogbones. It's just another Ford thing like the power steering cooler. Took that off too. If you've ever removed one you'd see why that bracket with the bump plate needs to go back on.

I had an 8.8 under my old 97 F150, it didn't have one on it.

 

[89MustangGX]

the question is does everything equiped with an 8.8 have one, trucks included.
my guess would be because ford used the 8 and 9 inch for so long, when they came up with the 8.8, being it doesnt have a removeable carrier it's there to dampen vibration so there's less likelyhood of the housing fatigueing right there where the pinions at.

Full-sized trucks do not have them (unsure about smaller ones). They used them in trucks before cars AFAIK, and I've not heard of any problems with trucks or cars rattling their rear ends apart.

 

[kreil45]

could a bad dogbone cause a clunk.

 

[Shakerhood]

I left my Dogbone in place, it really doesnt weigh that much and its in a good place.

 

[95Vert383AOD]

No Dogbone here with a 383 stroker. No issues. I also removed a 25lb weight behind the bumper on the passenger side that said "25lbs" on it.

Ford used to add double cardan u joints and a damper on the drive shaft of Lincoln Mark 7's to supposedly remove negative harmonics. I have had the damper and cardan joint removed and rebuilt the drive shaft with new steel and a balancing and had better results than the orig. configuration.

Some guys get all kinds of wheel hop from removing quad shocks and some are lucky and have no issues. Personally i think quad shocks on a Mustang was a crappy bandaid for lack of better control arms and suspension.

I personally thing that Ford and other companies will only go so far with factory balancing and harmonics control. Sometimes its cheaper to just add a fix like a "Dogbone" than to SFI balance a OEM drivetrain from the factory.

Chris