Had this old 9" I salvaged out of a rotten 66 F100.
Low millage truck.. but it's Atlantic Canada , it's been sitting for 35+ years, truck was rusted apart.
After 7 years of haveing the 9", I take it apart the other night to inspect it, see if it's worth installing with disc brakes in my jeep.
Couldn't believe it... I knew it was 4.11 gearing, but had no clue it had a factory Detroit locker!
The tag on the diff says
WDM. A. L
4.11 14S
The housing has 3" tubes, big bearing, with tapered 28spline axels. That have the outer 3 indents in the axle end that people say indicates it's a 31 spline axle?
Third member is labeled on outside.
CWAR 8
B
4025
I had a hard time confirming this was the trucks original rear end, or if it was out of something else.
The gear oil inside that thing was something else! Just like tar almost..
The third member had copper washers under each nut.
Could this be the original 66 diff, just a special order or something?
I can't tell much about the differential from the pictures, but it doesn't look like any of the detroit lockers that I've had.
Did you count the splines on the axles? I've seen a lot of 28 spline axles that had the same holes in the ends. You can't judge the axles by what the end looks like. They actually look more like 28 spline axles to me, but it's impossible to tell from the picture.
If this will be for high performance use then you need to use something besides the WAR case. These (and the WAB) were the weakest of all the 9 inch cases.
This could be the original rear end, but I don't recall seeing a WAR or WAB case after '64.
I did count the splines, they are indeed 28 spline shafts.
That seems to be what im finding as the general opinion of those war cases. Prone to fail.
But I'm only planning on using it in the rear of a 190hp jeep, and I don't beat on the jeep.
Im 99percent sure it's a Detroit locker..
But maybe I'm wrong!
However it doesn't look like either of the limited slip units, and it looks a lot like the Detroit on the backside of the ring gear.
It could be a locker. It may just be an earlier version that looks a little different. If you look through the center it should be open all the way through. The 9 inch Ford Detroit Lockers that I have had did not have a cross shaft in them.
I believe what you have there is a Trac-Loc which is not a Detroit locker and not very strong. They tend to blow out the differential case on the ring gear side. If it still locks, go ahead and use it, WAR case and all. I don't think you will blow it quick with 190 HP.
Here is a pic of the two Ford limited slip options.
Equa lock, and trac lok
Both of them have the bolts attaching the ring gear to the carrier counter sunk.
They had to build it out a bit, to make space for the clutches inside.
Mine is flush/ not counter sunk at all. And deffinently not a open carrier.
So that's what had me believing it was potentially a Detroit locker.
When I turn the yoke, both axels spin the same direction.
Hopefully someone has some sort of insight on what it is for certain.
The housing measures 57" from flange to flange. Which coincides with the WDM on the axle tag, that relates to 63 to 71 F100's
If it is indeed the Detroit locker, would it make the assembly considerably stronger?
Another confusing point is it appears to have a Daytona pinion support.
Literature I have read says they only came on the nodular cases!
I am going to install some crown Vic disk brakes and use this axle regardless. Just curious more then anything about what exactly I may have.
Did you check to see if it has the cross shaft in it? I agree that you don't have a clutch unit.
Doesn't matter which differential you have as far as the over all strength. The weak part of the WAR case is the boss around the pinion pilot bearing.
Ford was kind of random about parts in the 9 inch. I've had nodular cases that had the standard pinion housing in them with 28 spline standard differential. If you have a Daytona pinion housing then that is a bonus. It's easy to tell. The Daytona has a much larger inner pinion bearing. The standard pinion housing uses the same small pinion bearing inner and outer.
I've seen several 9 inch Ford differentials that were locked up due to spinning one tire. Oil doesn't get inside the differential very well and spinning one tire causes a lot of heat on the cross shaft. This will weld the pinion gears to the cross shaft.
Well, I just put it back in the vice .
I'm going to take it apart now, and see what's inside..
If it's an open carrier and consistently wanting to turn both axles the same direction, I may have worn out spiders and cross shaft issue like you talked about.
I'll take a pic or two of what I find and post shortly ?
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