Whenever I start working on my car the first thing I pla to upgrade is the suspension and rearend.I want to run a 9 inch.They are the strongest rearends(besides a like a dana 60)But I want a 9inch.

I know currie has a bolt in 9 inch but that is pretty expensvie.I was thinking about finding a junkyard 9 inch that is the same width (or slightly narrower)Than the stock rear end.And welded all the brackets and thing on that housing.Then upgrading it with 4.10 gears with a spool and strange axles.(The car is going to see very very little street use)The only problem I see is when I get the different bolt pattern.How will the brake drums fit.Will that have to be drilled or can they be bought already setup like this?



Thanks for anyhelp.

 

I would recommend saving your money and buying a drop in because you're gonna have a headache with the brackets. They must be on nearly perfect. If you have experience it can be done, I'm having trouble doing this myself.
You can buy axles from strange and moser for a 9in that have a chevy bolt pattern. I'm not sure what you can do with the drums. Also, measure your stock rear and make sure the 9in you get is the same width.
Why a spool? I would just go with a Detroit Locker. Spools will wreak havoc on your axles with some street driving.
What kind of motor do you have? If it's TPI most people recommend 3:42 since TPI's are typically not high revving motors.
Hope this helps. I'm trying to do a 9in swap in my car too.

 

My dad has done to 4-link cars.And welded all the brackets on the housing himself.And both where excellent.I am not worried about the getting it to fit part.Just the little things like the brake drums etc,etc.


My motor is currently a carbed 350.I plan on staying with a small block for a while.And it won't be fuel injected.The motor is stock with 327 heads.Just about everything on the car is stock.


The reason I am going with a spool is because it is much cheaper than a detroit locker.I may end up going that route.Not sure yet.


I still need the get the car home.I went and checked on her today and she is still there.The guy is waiting on the title to come back in his name.Should be here in the next week or so.I haven't even drove the car yet!

 

Ok, you won't have a problem with the brackets then.
I was wondering if I could use the backing plates and drums off of my current 10-bolt rear. Does anyone know if this would work?
Also, I forgot to mention the torque arm. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about this yet since it has to attach to the center section. It looks like drop in rears have special provisions on the center sections for this. Anybody know what I can do?

 

Finding a junkyard diff to fit isn't that hard. I pulled one from a 1970 ford F100 that is very close to perfect width. Downside is that both axles are the same length so the pinion center is over 2" to the passenger side. A better setup has the drivers side axle shorter than the passenger side. Usually found in car 9" diffs.

I welded the spring and shock/LCA mounts onto the diff. If you plan on using a torque arm, you can buy a mounting bracket from Currie that can be welded to the housing. If not then you need to convert the rear suspension to ladder bars or a 4-link. There's not a lot of room under the rear of a third gen for either unless you backhalf the car or do a bunch of floor sectioning (see my site for how ladder bars look).

I went with a 31 spline spool. Since the original ford truck axles were 28 spline and had a huge bolt pattern, they went straight to scrap metal. I picked up some ford backing plates for the large 11x2 (2 1/4 maybe I forgot) drum brakes. I ordered some strange 31 spline axles with 5 on 4 1/2" ford bolt pattern. Picked up some light drums that fit and I have a complete ford differential assembly.

My rims have dual bolt pattern so they'll fit ford of chev axles.

If you already have a center section with the spool and gears, you can pick up a Currie or Moser bolt-in housing with axles for less than $1000. Install whatever brakes you want but I think they're set up for 10 bolt drums.