[redrat]

Originally Posted by SanitysBane

I put a Ford 9inch in my '83 C10, the 9inch I used was out of a late 80's F-150 and was about 1/2 inch widder total than the stock 10bolt so I just kept that in mind when I ordered wheels for the truck. You can get either 1)by new axles from Moser or Strange with a 5X5 bolt pattern, or 2) take your axles to a machine shop and have them redrill them for a 5X5 bolt pattern, the same can be done for the rear drums which is what I did. As far as the driveshaft, the Ford 9 I know for certain is shorter than the 10bolt and I think shorter than the 12 bolt as well. What I did was use a 1 piece driveshaft out of a 90's longbed truck with a 700R4, used a conversion u-joint on the rear and it fit like a glove. I would suggest measuring to see how long a driveshaft you need and then go search the local junkyards, most autoparts kids don't know about conversion u-joints and you need to ask for the u-joint book and take along a tape measure to make sure you get the right one, they will probally even have it in stock. The brake lines bolt right up to the ford 9inch backing plates. The old saying holds true, measure twice, cut once. I cut the leafspring mounts and shock mounts off the 10 bolt housing and then welded them on the 9inch housing. If you want to you can buy new leafspring mounts, but make sure about the diameter of the axle tubes, mine were 3.5inches. What I did was measure everything several times, to get the location for where the leafspring mounts should go, then made the face of the pinion parrallel to the ground and used an angle finder to measure the angle they were at on the 10 bolt and transfered that over to the 9inch. When you pull the axles out its a good idea to go ahead and replace the axle bearings. I did it on the cheap and it cost me around 700 bucks, drilling the axles and brakes myself, rebuilding the brakes, and centersection using parts from SummitRacing.com. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

I have a big gearing 9" out of an early 70's ranger. I want to use this in my 82 c-10 but i dont know where to get axles or if this thing will even work. I cant get the axles redrilled for my bolt patern because it has a hole in it to get to the 4 flang bolts. Can you point me in the right direction,

Thanks, Ryan