went to the junk yard to look for 9"rears

73 Ranchero won't work. No way. If it were a 57-59 Ranchero, you'd be in business.

It will work, but it would mean having to remove the coil spring mounts, adding leaf spring perches and cutting the axle tube's length down. Probably not worth the trouble.

The 9-inch rear ends first appeared in the passenger cars and Ford half ton pickups in 1957. They ceased production in the Ford passenger cars at the end of 1980 and production ended in the Ford trucks at the end of 1985. Obviously, the 9-inch rear ends have been "drying up" in the salvage yards for the last 23 years, but they are still out there. You just have to keep looking.

If all else fails, you can buy a brand new one from someone like Curries, Moser, etc., that will fit under your vehicle. In addition to the [wrecking yard] '57-'59 Ford passenger car rear (which have the same housing width as the '65/'66 Mustangs), Some of the '75-'80 Granadas and Mercury Monarchs came [optionally] with 9-inch disc brake rear ends or 9-inch drum brake rear ends. which was also the same width as the '65/'66 Mustang rears.

This is a drum brake 9-inch rear end I got from an '80 model Mercury Monarch 4 years ago [it was powered by a 250 cu. in. in-line 6-cylinder]:
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/3237/sn95discsglenhakanmonarie1.jpg

I cleaned it up, removed the drum assemblies and made some brackets to adapt some '94-'04 Cobra rear discs and calipers onto it:
http://justpassing.thruhere.net/ustangold/images/2006/cobrabrakehosemount0243cf_2.jpg

biggyfan1 said:

this topic gets a lot of talk and always seems to have the same questions. I have read and read but am still a little unsure what 9" rear with just bolt right in to my 66 mustang with out cutting, with out having to get a different back spaced rim, with out all the BS. I have a list of all the rear ends that are 9"s and the sizes and i can see that mine is 57.25 but what size can i really go up to with out all the cutting and buying of different rims/spacers? i see on other posts where someone says "yeah that rear will work but just do this and just do that". I want to pull that B**ch and toss her in My guess would be that i can be safe with a 59.25 rear and still keep the same rims and tires what do you guys think?

Click to expand...

If you have stock (skinny) wheels and tires, you might get away with running a 59¼" wide rear end (that width for '67-'70 models), but if you have wider aftermarket wheels and tires, you will probably have problems clearing the fender well openings, unless you have aftermarket wheels and tires that have a significant amount of backspacing to them.

These are the rear ends that will have the very same width housing as the stock '65/'66 Mustangs (essentially a "direct fit"):

1. '65/'66 Mustang 8- or 9-inch rear end.

2. 1964/'65 Comet 8- or 9-inch rear end.

2. 1957-1959 Ford passenger car 9-inch rear end (small bearing housing).

3. 1957-1959 Ford station wagon & Ranchero 9-inch rear end (large bearing housing).

4. 1975-1980 Granada/Monarch 9-inch drum brake rear end (this is a small bearing housing).

5. 1975-1980 Granada/Monarch 9-inch disc brake rear end (large bearing housing).

6. 1977-1980 Lincoln Versialles 9-inch disc brake rear end (same disc brake rear end available optionally in the '75-'80 Granadas/Monarchs).