After breaking a ten bolt a few years ago and toasting two 9 bolts the last couple seasons I decided to make up a whole new rear. I chose the Ford 8.8 over the 9 inch or 12 bolt and heres why; Its VERY tough... many believe its stronger than a 12 bolt and if they don't they will admit that it is at least equal in strength( ask Moser or Strange ). Its way lighter than both especially the 9 inch. The 8.8 is more effecient=more RWHP. I upgraded to 31 spline Moser bolt on axles so it will handle extremely high amounts of horsepower and I did not have to use crappy c-clip eliminators cause they leak often. Another bonus that I felt was important is the 8.8 rears are QUIET... I mean quieter than even a stock ten bolt whereas 9 inchers are very loud and 12 bolts are fairly noisy too. So after weighing up all the pros with no real cons here is what I made. What do you guys think?

Hers a shot of the TQA bracket up close. I also did the LS1 brake swap for those wondering about the brake hardware in the last pic. I did the whole job up on a VERY accurate jig that we spent 2 weeks creating. The tolerances on everything are very tight so this is a direct bolt in with no mods required to the car or the torque arm. It bolts right in and works great.

One more thing I forgot to mention is although the stock driveshaft length is fine it does require a conversion u joint to bolt up.

Very interesting- I don't know much about Fords- what car did you get it out of? How does it compare for track width? Do the axles have the 4 3/4 bolt circle and the same wheel pilot diameter as a 9 or 10 bolt (will Camaro wheels fit)? Do the stock axles have 12mm studs? What do you think a core should cost if I wanted to do a conversion to my car- thanks!!!!!!!!!

Whats the tq arm bracket welded to? From the little I can see it looks like you welded it ot the housing itself......its cast steel right? Good job though, look s a whole lot nicer than my 8.5" 10 bolt swap.

mike48 Its a custom housing that has to be welded up from a mustang rear and a Camaro rear so unfortunately its not as easy as finding a suitable core and drilling the axles.

Xhiron Yes its welded right to the cast and thanks for noticing the quality... Every effort was taken to ensure the utmost quality to the whole job. There are some more reinforcments that you cannot see on the other side of the bracket also.

nice job

ok i'm a little slow so bear with me. you take a 8.8 out of a mustang and remove the tubes right? then take a 10 bolt and remove the tubes and weld them in the 8.8 center section. do you use the flanges from the 10 bolt? is the 8.8 a c clip rear? looks very good.

ede I used a Mustang center section with premium upgraded internals to allow the use of the 31 spline axles. I use 10 bolt tubes with Ford 9" axle ends so I would have no retention worries. I could have used the 10 bolt ends with c-clip elimnators but the bearing is very small on those which makes the axle bearing journal small=weak and they usually leak if you use them on the street so I wanted the best quality solution which was large press on bearing bolt on axles. The most involved part of the whole job was making up the jig as it took considerable time to do it right and keep it accurate. I figure do it right do it once. I know now that my rear end worries are over regardless of how much my horse power grows. I know guys who run 900 horse nitrous injected Mustangs that use the 8.8 proudly and I am sure you guys have seen those fast Stangs at the track that also use this rear. To make it even better consider how many F150's and Crown Vic taxi cabs with a zillion miles running this rear. Its a gem too bad Chevy didn't make us one like it eh?

Nice work

thats pretty cool , so now i know i two rear ends that arent bought that will both into a trans am or camaro besides a 12 bolt and ford 9 inch. You have your ford 8.8 and my chrysler 8 3/4.Check out my pics in my sig. Good work . Isnt it cool to have somethign different than others.

To be honest this was born of neccessity and I don't care much about being different. I just wanted to not have to worry about my rear every time I drove my car as it was ruining my fun and the bolt in 9 inchers or 12 bolts are overpriced.

I have a couple of Mopar friends who run the 8.75 and its okay but they are noisy and the pinion snaps if you put them through too much power and parts are pricey for them. Don't get me wrong its light years better than a ten bolt or 9 bolt but I spent considerable time researching and weighing up the pros and cons and concluded that the 8.8 is the best solution out there. Its good to 8 or 900 horse and it weighs only 21 pounds more than a stock ten bolt plus its very effecient and parts are highly available and affordably priced. Its so nice and quiet you would never know it wasn't stock.

Ever thought about making more than one for your thirdgen.org brothers that might need one?

Where did you aquire this rear end? Is this the same rear end found in mustangs? If so I may just wind up building me one similar to yours. Can get a mustang rear end hear for a dime a dozen.

I cannot discuss selling these yet as I am not allowed to on this forum but I have inquired about what is required to do so with respect to TGO and I will update with more info when we figure something out which should be soon.

So what year of mustang's did these come out of?

Any V8 Mustang made from 1986 to now will have an 8.8. HTH

Peace,

K

Edit: Cobras after 1998 have IRS...

Awesome, may go pick one up this weekend .

The housing I used came from a 91 Mustang but anything from the 5.0 days and newer will work fine. I think you will be very pleased with it when you get it done. Good luck

The sooner the better, I think my 10 bolt is about to go. Please keep us informed.

Working on it

How much did this cost to build up, relative to a 12-bolt or a 9"?

But, I just found a moser 9" setup for a third gen with 4.11s for 1200 + shipping. (which ant cheap now)..

He even said he would go 1650 for the 1le front brakes also...


:lala:

Gonna be updating my sig b4 long...

A GM 8.5" 10 bolt would have worked just as well. Strength wise they are on par with the Ford 8.8", and aftermarket parts are just as plentiful.

Marc 85Z28 Call Moser or Strange and get some informed info. I researched ALL diffs before I chose the 8.8. Its far superior to the 8.5 or I would have used it. In fact the only stock non full floating rear that is stronger is the 9 inch Ford but its almost 100 pounds heavier and 3% less effecient and its very LOUD. Besides the 8.8 can handle upwards of 800 horsepower which is more than most of us ever dream to make. I have seen others push even more than that through them with no problems. The 8.5 may be much better than a 7.5 but the 8.8 is a gem that runs in the major league.

there are a handfull of guys using this rear for the 4th gen ls1 cars. couple have broken so if you plan on putting more than 400rwhp+ you may want to do some research. i know of one guy in texas making these right now stand up guy too. every rear that has broken he has fixed for free. i plan on doing one of these for my camaro before the end of this year

I am aware of this guy and I have checked into his rears and its not the rear that fails at all but his fabrication has not stood up. I have chatted with him and the guys who's rears have broken. He has had two failures. In one case it was too light duty of materials used for the torque arm bracket that failed and in another instance his welds on the axle tubes cracked apart. In both cases the customer repaired it themselves.

I do not know what license this guy holds but my welder is UA licensed pipe certified 18 years experience and my machinist is one of Magna's top tool and die makers in Concord with 22 years experience. I too stand behind what I do and thats why the first rear I made is in my car so I can beat the snot out of it to be sure that it will hold up. Only top quality materials are used here.

so are you thinking about producing these rears to sell, or did you just make one for yourself?

I still cannot discuss selling these yet but I am working on it. It would speed things up and be great if I had an actual idea of who is genuinely interested in one. I cannot discuss price but I can tell you that it will be very good value compared to other rears of this caliber. Thanks guys.

I really dont think either Ede or Kevin would throw a hissyfit if you were to come out in this thread and say "I'm thinking about making these to sell in the $XXXX range". After all you just finished this product and it is in R&D. Nice work too





In general

Now as far as the 8.8 goes I can think of quite a few drawbacks with them. There isnt a strength issue over any "real" differential setup, granted you have hubs "axle ends" that would be a nice addition to any rear end the major drawback would still be gear swaps. Its just like the 9,10,12 14 bolt GM as far as gear swaps go. Thats the only advantage I see with a fNord9. Out of the 9bolt 7.5 arena where the axle tubes are match sticks a 8.5, 12 bolt danna rear or 9in will all hold around the same abuse level even in stock forms they hang well.

I have three third gens in my garage right now that would all benefit from this rear...and know of another right offhand that would be interested. Having owned a couple 5.0 Mustangs myself, I wouldn't hesitate to use an 8.8 in any street-strip car. My 91 coupe made 517 at the rear wheels, and the STOCK 28 spline 8.8 with 4.11 Motorsport gears held up just fine. Your setup is much better strengthwise. If you go through with this, and can keep the price reasonable (I had $2300 in my last 9"), you're going to sell a ton of them!

BTW if you're looking for dealers, PM me with some info!

Thanks for the encouragement guys it is well received. I too have... uh oh I hate to admit it but I did own a fast Ford in years gone by and it did have emblems that looked kind of 5.0 ish. It too had the stock 28 spline c clip rear... slicks and all running low 12's with not one problem... I still hear of this car even though it has migrated its way three hours drive North of me and never heard of any issues other than it eating t-5's at least once a year

Answers soon I hope. Thanks again

87roc_t56, could 9 bolt axle tubes and ends be used? That way you would already have bolt in axles? Great Work!!!

By the way, I would be interested in one as soon as the 9 bolt lets go...hopefully not all that soon !

Sure you could use 9 bolt ends but the bearing journal will be quite a bit smaller as I believe the 9 bolt has a 1.3?" journal whereas the heavy nine inch ends use a 1.53" journal. Not that it would matter much IMO as most axle failures ocuur at the spline end but it would affect the overall strength somewhat. Solid tip though

What Diameter are aftermarket axle's? With the 9 bolt ends, you would also be able to retain all the stock braking components. Dam! I'm a brainchild... LOL

Nah... I'll pass on calling those overpriced rear companies. They provide info to sell their custom rears, and not to aid in fabbing up your own. Rather I'll go to the track and watch all those 2nd gen F-bodies, Turbo Regals, and Montes run well into the 9s with just axles in their 8.5s.

I've seen more than enough 8.8s fail in grandma driven Town Cars and Grand Marquis'

IROCFAST the axles would clear by a hair to allow the 9 bolt bearing on so it would work but it would really only help if you plan on using the 9 bolt disc brakes because the housings ends I use come ready to accept the stock 10 bolt GM brakes. Here is a pic of the end

I see, it would probably be better just to use the 9" ends and get some 10bolt brakes then...

It would be the strongest way to go.

if you build them, we will come. so when you build them (I'm keeping my fingers crossed) let us know, and we'll line up and order 'em.

Its happening

When you mention your machinist working in concorn, are you talking canada by any chance?? You have any pics of the rear installed???

When you figure out if your going to produce these things could you pm me with some info and a ballpark price???

That seems like a hell of a job you got yourself into there. Glad to see it all worked out and is done!!

Don't know if i ever heard of concorn LOL Yes it is Concord On Canada you got it. I was wondering when anyone would pick up on that. You know they actually have Concord spec now? Its amongst the highest rating of machining quality standards equalled only by German spec so I'm told by my Magna friend and I have no reason to doubt him.

For others watching just an update all is rolling well. Trying to put as much abuse on the dif as I can but I need more power now that I have no concerns other than perhaps the aluminum shaft. I gotta get the slicks on it and see how it handles some hard clutch dumps! Now I can finally build that 400 I have waiting in the shop :lala:

I'm on the edge of my seat. I'm going to order a diff cover with the pre-load bolts for the axles( a girdle cover? is that the right name?) for me 10 bolt. after that, I'll start saving my money in anticipation. I'm relly excited that there may soon be a viable alternative to moser or strange or currie, or all the other companies. I wanna stout rear, but i don't need something that will take 1400 HP (yet) and my 2600 bucks with it. (exaggeration) but I do need something stronger then a 10-bolt or 9-bolt. let me be the first to say thanks for doing the research and making this a reality for all of us, because we don't all have the resources to fab and machine and weld EVERY last thing on our cars. that's what makes the hobby fun and interesting and even viable...... you do what you can, if you can't, you get your buds to help, if none of you can, then you buy for it. It's stuff like this that makes me proud to call myself a hot rodder. so it looks like I'll be adding something else to my wish list.

Thanks very much for your kind remarks they are well received

Just a quick FYI:

My Mustang buddy tells me that 4x4 Ford Explorers came from the factory with 8.8 rears AND 31 spline axels. We're gonna comb the local wreckers trying to find one and verify.

If anyone wants to know more, i can find out from bud if you like

No need to search I can verify that is indeed true. So do newer F150's and possibly others.

I'd bet most F150's from the early 80's came with a 8.8. I know my old 89 4X4 did. Alot of the trucks and for sure the explorers came with 31 spline axles, T-loks that are completely rebuildable and can be made stronger with extra discs, and alot of the 97+ came with 3.73 or 4.10's. All you have to do with a 8.8 is weld the axle tubes, c-clip eliminators,spool and 31 spline axles and they are bulletproof.

I'd be interested in this setup for my camaro as I run what I listed in my mustang. Would be a nice upgrade for piece of mind.

I like the idea, but why use 10 bolt tubes?
Also whats the width difference?

That is absolutely awesome. I always liked 8.8's... Everyone seems to go with 12-bolts or 9" but they dont take into account how much weight and HP they rob - Thats always whats on my mind, every little bit counts. Although, when you aren't a fabricator or your pockets aren't deep, you have little chose but to get a 9" or 12bolt

I know a guy in the mid 8's with an 8.8 built similar to yours. You should have a very hard time breaking it, as my friend 60 ft's with his rear tires