[PaulNJ53Ford]

can a 8.8 rear from 1986 mustang be narrowed? i picked up a1986 mustang gt and i want to put engine trans and rear in 1953 ford customline. rear is couple inches longer. than the one that was in 53 ford. can it be narrowed or should i try offset wheels. thanks for any info .

[M&M CUSTOM]

Any axle can be narrowed or even widened if you needed it done, BUT you are looking at a very large expense.

I would really look at the measurements of both axles and see if there is any available wheels with the offset enough to make things work right.

Some wheel manufacturers will also make an offset to order if necessary, and even a set of custom wheels made to order will cost much less than a custom width axle or having one cut down to work.

[S10xGN]

Doesn't that car have parallel leafs? I'm thinking an Explorer rear or possibly a Ranger. BTW, the Explorer is (supposedly) 59.5" between wheel mounting flanges and 39.5" between spring perches.

[PaulNJ53Ford]

yes the car has leafsprings but are in rough shape. i am going to try to use the suspension from the mustang. i have been looking at the aftermarket 4 link suspension with air ride also. it seems to cost some bucks.

[KNanthrup]

Any rear can be narrowed really. It's a matter of whether you're willing to spend the cash on it. If you're on a budget I would just offset the wheels. If it's only off by a couple of inches it would be real easy to do.

[Lou]

Cutting that 8.8 is easy. A jig is needed, if you are going to narrow it order a set of housing ends from Moser. That way you don't have to mess with the c-clips. Because you will need new axles. The going rate to narrow a rear is $100- 150 I get $100

[PaulNJ53Ford]

i wanted to change the axles to 5 lug . do you where i can find 5 lug axles? also that seems like a good price to shorting the axle .but i live in n.j. thanks for the tips.

[segge]

The explorers and later model mustangs came with 5 lug axles, plus they sell conversion kits for fox body mustangs to convert them from 4 to five lug.

[5.0Falcon]

Hey I got the exact same thing going on as you...

I had a 1986 8.8 rear axle shortend for my falcon. It ended up costing a lot more than i had originally imagined.

When i had it done i had a local shop narrow it but instead of having the axles cut and resplined i bought new 5 lug axles with the C-clip eliminator kit. This is when it is a good time to up grade to 5 lug and even 31 spline axles instead of the stock 28 spline, although you will have to also purchase a new gear set.

I went with the new axles because the guy at the shop said resplining the axles take 28% of the strength out of them Which would make your rear end as strong as a 7.5 rear end

I had the stock outer 4 link mounts taken off so they can be welded on later where you want, and to since you wanted to keep the 4 link susp you can build it to fit in your frame just right.

Also, instead of re-doing the stock brakes to go to 5 lug i got an svo disk brake kit $400

[5.0Falcon]

$288 axles and C-clip eliminators

$150 shorten housing

$400 SVO rear brakes ($200 if doing drum style)

$99 Billit housing ends

+ Labor

[PaulNJ53Ford]

thanks for the replys . and thanks for the price list.