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Topic: Axle swap (Read 4048 times) previous topic - next topic

Axle swap

OK I know this horse been beat to death but let’s beat it a different way.  I recently want to a u pull it salvage yard I spent the day collecting calibers rotors brackets spindles hubs I guess you can see where I’m going with this yeah I was collecting for a 4-5 lug conversion it was going good until when I realized Man these axles are a little bit long.  this mustang is not the 96 8.8 V8 I came for but the 1999
Why I didn’t notice the Dual caliber, I don’t know.
But my question is can I still use this axles (30.75)length in my 88 sport.  ( the salvage yard combined with hour drive I would rather not make that trip again if I don’t have too plus a lot of seized bolts)
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]88 Thunderbird Sport 302 H-pipe,flowmaster 50 series delta flow e303 cam GT40 upper and lower intake, GT40P heads, trick flow springs and rocker arms.

Re: Axle swap

Reply #1
Nope.  You need the 94-98 axles to keep the stock  to  measurement.  The front brakes are a nice upgrade being they have the dual piston caliper.  If you snagged the spindles they are not ideal on a stock k-member car due to their geometry but that can be dealt with via a bump steer kit.  I opted to go with the 96+ spindles on my stock k-member car as I knew a tubular k-member was going to happen and did not want to try and se up a set of the 94-95 spindles.

You do realize that the 94-98 GT and V6 cars have the exact same brakes, right?  In the rear the axles, brackets, dust shields, and calipers are the same.  Only difference is the housing in that one is for the 7.5 ring gear and the other is for the 8.8 ring gear.  As for the front they are straight across the same.  I pulled both my swaps from V6 cars being I already had the 8.8 housings and was converting from drum brakes.

83 351W TKO'd T-Bird on the bottle


93 331 Mustang Coupe - 368 rwhp

Re: Axle swap

Reply #2
Yup, what Darren said. I know it sucks, but really, any rear from '94-98 will yield the axles you want. AFAIK, the brakes are the same across all those years, so what you already have harvested will do for you. (I'd probably spring for remanned rear calipers, when those shiznits seize, they're a pain, unless you have the stuff to take 'em apart and know how)..

I had/have what amounts to the same setup on both my Thunderbird and now on my '87 Mustang. Up front is the dual piston calipers,

On my 'Bird I had a  setup....used the stock Tbird Sport's backing plates, '97 Stang V6 axles (again, no matter if it's V6 or V8, the shafts themselves are the same), but I kept that car drums, and used Mercury Marquis drums, these were 10" drums and not the usual 9". With that setup, I HAD to have the Sport's back plates, all others were 9" drums, so....there's *probably* a way, but with all the Mustang shiznit in the yards now, no reason not to step up to dscs. I just did it to see if it could be done.

Now in my Mustang, I ran Ranger axles and kept the stock drums. There was no way to make a hybrid system as the axles are too short for that setup.

When I get the T5 rebuilt, I'll probably be swapping to discs and throwing a 3.73 in with a new Trac Lok.


BTW, if you've not ran the PBR calipers yet, holy shiznit, you'll feel like you're going to leave your teeth in the steering wheel.. LOL
'84 Mustang
'98 Explorer 5.0
'03 Focus, dropped a valve seat. yay. freakin' split port engines...
'06 Explorer EB 4.6

Re: Axle swap

Reply #3
Looking a the axle chart listed in the pinned thread in this section (HERE

I have postulated that MAYBE you could use the 99-04 axles and brake set up on your wide 7.5 housing in your Sport. The numbers are really close. At least according to the chart.

You would need to swap to the rear discs though, and your  to  width would be 1.5" wider.
This is all just a guess though.

If you're keeping the drums, you'll need to either have your current axles converted to 5-lug or buy new, custom ones and use some Ranger drums.

94-98 Axles won't work in your wide housing. The bearing surfaces are in the wrong location. If your car was an 83-85, you'd have the narrow housing that would work with the 94-98 axles.

Long live the 4-eyes!  - '83 Tbird Turbo

Re: Axle swap

Reply #4
It's been a minute, but I'm running 99-04 axles  and SN95 solid discs in my 87 7.5" rear end.

On paper it works perfectly, but I had to put small spacers to get the disc and caliper to properly align IIRC.

Re: Axle swap

Reply #5
Chuck is right..I forgot about that oddball OAL length. My bad.
'84 Mustang
'98 Explorer 5.0
'03 Focus, dropped a valve seat. yay. freakin' split port engines...
'06 Explorer EB 4.6

Re: Axle swap

Reply #6
So from what I understand (Chuck or Eric correct me here) is that the:

1) 87-88 Turbo Coupes had the 8.8 rear end that was the same housing width as the 86-98 Mustang 8.8 housing and were disc brake.
2) The 88 XR-7 Cougar had a drum brake 8.8 that was the same width as the Turbo Coupe rear end from axle  to axle  but the housing is the same as the 86-98 Mustang 8.8 housing and not very common.
3) There were some 87-88 Thunderbirds that had an 8.8 with drum brakes but I believe the housing was wider like the 7.5" housings.

I looked at the chart and the XR-7 is not discussed not is any type of 8.8 drum brake rear end.

83 351W TKO'd T-Bird on the bottle


93 331 Mustang Coupe - 368 rwhp

Re: Axle swap

Reply #7
So from what I understand (Chuck or Eric correct me here) is that the:

1) 87-88 Turbo Coupes had the 8.8 rear end that was the same housing width as the 86-98 Mustang 8.8 housing and were disc brake.
2) The 88 XR-7 Cougar had a drum brake 8.8 that was the same width as the Turbo Coupe rear end from axle  to axle  but the housing is the same as the 86-98 Mustang 8.8 housing and not very common.
3) There were some 87-88 Thunderbirds that had an 8.8 with drum brakes but I believe the housing was wider like the 7.5" housings.

I looked at the chart and the XR-7 is not discussed not is any type of 8.8 drum brake rear end.

1) Correct.

2) Correct.

3) I don't believe any 1987-88 non-Turbo Coupe/1988 non-XR7 got an 8.8" rear. At least, I've never found any evidence. Even the 1987 XR-7's got the 7.5" rear. Now in 1988 only, the rear drums went to 10" regardless of model, and that was for V6 and V8 cars. (I have heard from a few people that their car still had 9" drums but those are exceptions).

It is possible to take an 8.8" housing and use T-Bird/Cougar axles, backing plates, and 10" drum hardware and make your own 8.8" drum rear.

Re: Axle swap

Reply #8
So from what I understand (Chuck or Eric correct me here) is that the:

1) 87-88 Turbo Coupes had the 8.8 rear end that was the same housing width as the 86-98 Mustang 8.8 housing and were disc brake.
Correct.

2) The 88 XR-7 Cougar had a drum brake 8.8 that was the same width as the Turbo Coupe rear end from axle  to axle  but the housing is the same as the 86-98 Mustang 8.8 housing and not very common.
Correct. There was a V8 Cougar that had an 8.8 drum brake rear. Narrow housing. Longer axles.
 

3) There were some 87-88 Thunderbirds that had an 8.8 with drum brakes but I believe the housing was wider like the 7.5" housings.
No. There were no 8.8's in any other 83-88 Tbird, other than mentioned in #1 and #2. All 86-88 TBIrds/Cougars (Not listed above) had the wide housing 7.5.

I looked at the chart and the XR-7 is not discussed not is any type of 8.8 drum brake rear end.
Long live the 4-eyes!  - '83 Tbird Turbo

Re: Axle swap

Reply #9
Great info guys and thank you for the clarifications.

83 351W TKO'd T-Bird on the bottle


93 331 Mustang Coupe - 368 rwhp

Re: Axle swap

Reply #10
To aid in distinction (that is, if there are any of these left in yards by now) the 9" drums were all finned, the 10" were smooth..

I have heard of some '88 Cats that had the bit drum 8.8 but have never seen any, either here on the forum or in junkyards. Have came across a few '88 XR7 cars in yards but all had the 7.5 but 10" drums.

'84 Mustang
'98 Explorer 5.0
'03 Focus, dropped a valve seat. yay. freakin' split port engines...
'06 Explorer EB 4.6

Re: Axle swap

Reply #11
Beau, close... 9" were finned, 10" were smooth.
https://www.coolcats.net/restoring/brakes.html

I appreciate that Ford put larger drums on at the end of the run. That's something they commonly do for whatever reason. The 1997 Cougars/T-Birds all got 4-wheel disc standard, and the front rotors were larger, just for that last model year of the body style. So I guess our cars set the precedent for that LOL.

Re: Axle swap

Reply #12
It's been a minute, but I'm running 99-04 axles  and SN95 solid discs in my 87 7.5" rear end.

On paper it works perfectly, but I had to put small spacers to get the disc and caliper to properly align IIRC.

So you you were able to use axles from 99-04 and they worked with spacers? What kind of spaces and where did I you place them? 
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]88 Thunderbird Sport 302 H-pipe,flowmaster 50 series delta flow e303 cam GT40 upper and lower intake, GT40P heads, trick flow springs and rocker arms.

Re: Axle swap

Reply #13

So you you were able to use axles from 99-04 and they worked with spacers? What kind of spaces and where did I you place them? 


More than likely on the caliper mounting bracket locations, to get the caliper better centered over the rotor.
It will be pretty evident when you bolt it all up.
Long live the 4-eyes!  - '83 Tbird Turbo

Re: Axle swap

Reply #14
This thread has yielded some good information but I’m alittle confused “will these 99 mustang axles work with some spacing or it’s a unstable setup all together?  JeremyB seems to have had some success with axles. And by the way I appreciate everyone’s input. Aerocoupe, chuck W, Eric, jeremyB and beau.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]88 Thunderbird Sport 302 H-pipe,flowmaster 50 series delta flow e303 cam GT40 upper and lower intake, GT40P heads, trick flow springs and rocker arms.