i am looking for a rear end to handle some serious torque (500+) but i dont have alot of money. i had thought a bout a 4th gen then considered a 9 inch. What cars come with a 9inch that would be in a junkyard??? do v6 4th gens come with POSI??? i need some help deciding. This will be my first rear end purchase/swap. any help would be much appreciated. thanks.

 

Serious torque takes serious money. There are no cars in the junkyard that have a 9 inch you could use directly, unless you happened to find a thirdgen with a 9 inch already swapped in. You'd have to do a lot of fabrication to put a junkyard rear in your car, and by the time you were done you'd have been much better off buying a bolt-in rear from Strange or Moser or whoever.

 

ok thanks. what about a 4th gen? how much do the mosers or strange run?

 

Apeiron is right.

But I have to think that if you have the skills to build 500lbs of torque that you might have some fabrication skills as well. If you do:

Nine inch fords are very common and can be had pretty cheap in a lot of different widths, but as Apeiron said, none of them will go in your car without a lot of cutting and welding as well as a donor third gen axle for brackets and such. The nine inch is a very stable design because the pinion has a third bearing BEHIND the pinion gear. With aftermarket gears, their tougher than rocks and will live forever behind 500lbs of torque. The third member is a dropout too, which means you can change gearsets in about half an hour.

If you're a craftsman you can get one in your car yourself without too much fuss. It'd be about as much trouble as putting a Viper motor and tranny in your car.

 

yea some welding skills but i dont think i qualify as a craftsman. i was leaning toward the 9 inch for the "bulletproofness" but im not sure. what about buying an aftermarket bolt in?

 

Don't forget that making the new axles you'd need for a 9" is hardly a do-it-yourself project. Stock Ford 9" rears aren't all that great anyway, it's the aftermarket parts that are especially strong.

You can buy an aftermarket 9", or 12 bolt, or Dana 44, or whatever you want, all ready to bolt in.

 

Never priced one myself, but I'd be surprised if you'd get one in your car for less than 2500.00 new.

You know, even with 500lbs of torque you might not need anything exotic unless you know your going to mount up slicks or drag radials and put it on the track. Crappy old 10 bolts survived in many an ls1 6 speed fourth gen.

 

ok well i probably wont put slicks on it. its mainly a street car but i also want Posi and for it not to crap out on me.

 

There are several things you can do yourself to beef up a stock rear.

Make sure you have 28 splined axles. I think 88 and up cars had them.
Put one of those rear girdles on it. About 150.00 from jegs or summit.
Weld all the way around the axle tubes where they stick into the cast centersection.

There might be some other stuff, a search would tell.

Of course you'll have to add the posi or just start with another rear that has one.

If your going to run 'typical' street tires a 10 bolt would probably last for a while at least, especially with an automatic trans.

 

ok thanks so much. thats more of what i was looking for.