[zildjian4life218]

Well I went to the yard yesterday....got a D4 axle package which is a 8.8 with limited slip and 3.73 gears...

Its so easy to pull a rearend out when you flip the car over



Im gonna get the torches out today and cut off the brackets and free up the parking break and pull off the brake hardware....after numerous measurements and a little online research i found out that the pinion offset is about 3.875" to the passenger side....does anyone know if this is gonna affect the ujoints? i gotta get my car up in the air and make sure the drive shaft isn't gonna hit the floor with the pinion being over so far...

[joe_padavano]

Originally Posted by zildjian4life218

...does anyone know if this is gonna affect the ujoints?...

U-joints normally have an offset in the vertical direction anyway. All the joints know is that there's an offset, not which way. So long as the driveshaft doesn't hit the tunnel and the total offset doesn't bottom the U-joints, not a problem.

[123pugsy]

Here's the guide I used to check my offset both directions driveshaft:

SPICER

[ericnova72]

I thought shortening the drivers side long tube to take a second passenger side short axle was going to pretty much put the pinion offset close to the stock 7.5" rear??

[matt167]

Originally Posted by ericnova72

I thought shortening the drivers side long tube to take a second passenger side short axle was going to pretty much put the pinion offset close to the stock 7.5" rear??

that puts the pinion about 1/2" off IIRC

[ericnova72]

Originally Posted by matt167

that puts the pinion about 1/2" off IIRC

Which would definately work just fine.

[zildjian4life218]

Im still not 100% sure what i want to do. If i can leave it the way it is and it will fit fine I will just leave it that way. I need to bring the car over in front of the garage and see what the width of it is...Seems like a lot of sites have different numbers so i would like to measure it myself. I got all the brackets cut off. Just need to free up one more rotor and then all the brake hardware can come off. I planned on sending the axles out to get re-drilled for my bolt pattern.

Heres the progress so far...

[zildjian4life218]

Can someone clear up the exact width from wheel mounting surface to wheel mounting surface for the g body rearend....im at college during the week so i cannot make the measurements for myself until this weekend and want to do some number crunching on this rearend to see if i can put two shorter axles in it and just cut down the one side of the axle housing.... certain places online say different measurements....i have found 57.75" 58" 58.xxx something else.. i will measure it myself this weekend if the weather holds out but want to know if anyone knows for sure what it should be....thanks!

[ericnova72]

Measured one laying here in the barn from a '84 Monte SS, near as I can tell it is 58-1/8" or so. This is with brake drums on. Iron drums, might be a little wider with aluminum drums(they have a thicker flange).

[zildjian4life218]

Originally Posted by ericnova72

Measured one laying here in the barn from a '84 Monte SS, near as I can tell it is 58-1/8" or so. This is with brake drums on. Iron drums, might be a little wider with aluminum drums(they have a thicker flange).

awesome thanks!! im pretty sure im gonna end up getting another short axle and cut down the housing to fit.... it will help bring the pumpkin closer to the center of the car where i need to build the truss for the UCA

[zildjian4life218]

does anyone have an idea what Moser charges to cut down and re-spline an axle? Just one needs to get cut and re-splined. Also I need to have the bolt pattern re-drilled on both axles.. Thanks

[ericnova72]

Last pair I had shortened and resplined at Moser was $115 plus shipping, but it was about 8 years ago. I would think to respline one and change the bolt pattern on two it would come out somewhere near the same as that.

I just did a quick check at Moser's site for "shop services", cost was $65 to respline one axle, and $60 to redrill bolt pattern on a pair(provided they don't need plugged, welded, and redrilled).

One problem you may face is if the stock Ford axle is undercut behind the factory spline as is typical of a rolled form spline. If the axle is like this most times it has to be cut 4" or more to get a large enough diameter to cut a new spline in it. Factory splines are usually roll formed(pressed) into an undercut shaft. This process is just like a rolled thread, the part starts off sized 1/2 way in between the minor diameter of the spline and the major diameter, and when the spline is rolled in it forces metal out of the valley area(minor diameter) of the spline to form the peak(major diameter) of the spline.

Might be easier to do like a lot of others do...they get a second short side axle and shorten the long tube to fit it.

[zildjian4life218]

Originally Posted by ericnova72

Last pair I had shortened and resplined at Moser was $115 plus shipping, but it was about 8 years ago. I would think to respline one and change the bolt pattern on two it would come out somewhere near the same as that.

I just did a quick check at Moser's site for "shop services", cost was $65 to respline one axle, and $60 to redrill bolt pattern on a pair(provided they don't need plugged, welded, and redrilled).

One problem you may face is if the stock Ford axle is undercut behind the factory spline as is typical of a rolled form spline. If the axle is like this most times it has to be cut 4" or more to get a large enough diameter to cut a new spline in it. Factory splines are usually roll formed(pressed) into an undercut shaft. This process is just like a rolled thread, the part starts off sized 1/2 way in between the minor diameter of the spline and the major diameter, and when the spline is rolled in it forces metal out of the valley area(minor diameter) of the spline to form the peak(major diameter) of the spline.

Might be easier to do like a lot of others do...they get a second short side axle and shorten the long tube to fit it.

Wow great info....man i love this site! how will i be able to tell if it is indeed rolled like you said? and it is looking like getting another passenger side axle is going to be the best alternative. I just don't want to go too short on it cause i plan on running the oldsmobile rally rims i have and don't want to run an offset aftermarket rim.

[ericnova72]

If there is a lathe turned area right behind the spline that is smaller than the major diameter of the spline section it is a indication that the spline is rolled. I worked for a bit at a plant making 30 spline axles for the Nissan Pathfinder, axle was turned from a forged blank in a CNC lathe, came out of the lathe and then had the spline rolled into it, then into an induction heat treat machine to harden the spline and axle bearing areas.

Moser cuts splines into a full size axle blank with a multi insert cutter, so the blank has to be full diameter of the spline to start with, or in the case of a stock rolled spline axle the axle has to be cut back far enough to get a diameter big enough to be the full spline diameter for them to be able to cut a new spline.

If you have to go a little shorter than the stock rear there is always 1/4-3/8-1/2" spacers to help recenter the wheel.

[zildjian4life218]

My machinist said in order for me to be able to remove the axle tube i have to drill out welds in the housing... Is that what he is talking about?

There are three on each side.

What I plan on doing is getting another passenger side axle. Measure the difference between the d/s and p/s axles and take the difference off of the d/s axle tube..should take the housing to just under 58" total width which will work fine. Thanks for all the help so far everyone!! Im very excited to get this in and beat on it