I found a ford 8.8" rearend out of a ford explorer at a local junkyard with a locker and 3.73 rear gear. Recently with more power i decided i would like to swap out my 10 bolt. I heard that the explorer had a 3" pinion offset and that you had to cut 3 inches off of the drivers side and weld it on to the passenger side? Also, i know the torque arm mount will be a problem.

So basically my question is, has anyone done this and can they explain how to make a torque arm mount for it and how to get the pinion off set done correctly?

 

I'm sure its the same with a 9". What year is your 8.8", I want to do a swap too. 2k for a new 1 is steep. I wonder will my 7.75 hold to 500hp

 

I have not bought one yet. My 7.5" is still holding but i want to be ready for it to go at any moment. I was thinking of getting an 8.8" from an explorer. Then adjusting the pinion off set, and getting moser axles and welding them and going from there.

The main thing im worried about with the swap is the torque arm mount, not sure how to do that. And also does switching to moser axles allow me to run a gm bolt pattern wheel?

 

If you haven't bought it yet, get the axle itself from a Town Car. That's the closest spec. But then swap the gears and Traction-Lock from the Exploder. You can get the Ford axles and brakes re-drilled to the GM pattern. or order aftermarket axles to the Town car spec, but with whatever spline count and wheel pattern you like. I'd skip Moser and use Dutchman if you insist on aftermarket shafts in your 8.8 Doing the torque-arm mount is the big hassle. There are any number of possible solutions.

 

I was reading custombird's 8.8" swap from 3 years ago and it had alot of great information in it. I noticed there people said to use a crown vic? What i was wanting to do was use the explorer with moser 31 spline axles. The only thing im worried about is how much it would cost to have a shop install a TA mount for me and weld the axle tubes. I can do it myself, but for the amount of work there may be a line where i'd just pay more to have it done professionally.

I read on another forum about a guy putting an 8.8" in his 74 camaro by using a ford explorer rear end. And he had just cut the drivers side axle and welded it on the other side to offset the 3" pinion back to center. Not sure if a shop would be able to do that for and the torque arm mount and then the other bracketry for a reasonable price or not...

 

If the torque arm is attached to the center housing, then there's no gain from welding the tubes, except un-necessary weight. The Crown Victoria and the Town car are the same as far as the 8.8 axle goes. The Exploder axles might be long enough, if not maybe some F150 axles might not be too long. But lengthening an axle tube? For our application, forget it. That sometimes works for some off-road rock-crawlers with custom suspensions, plenty of space, and no concern for weight, but even so it's still risky. And I'd be surprised if they could do it for less than the cost of a new pair of custom shafts.

 

Im thinking a 9" axle assembly would be my cheapest bet, and then getting a junkyard find of a 31 spline posi center section. I'm thinking this is the route im now headed.