drop out swap

[rush]

I have been studying the set up and rebuild of the differential and for a while now have contemplated the idea of swapping a nine inch ford for the stock dodge. Milling off the mounting plate and welding in a new plate set up for the nine inch. With custom shafts made (the rear for now due to the complexity of the front axle shafts).

[MasterYota]

I have been studying the set up and rebuild of the differential and for a while now have contemplated the idea of swapping a nine inch ford for the stock dodge. Milling off the mounting plate and welding in a new plate set up for the nine inch. With custom shafts made (the rear for now due to the complexity of the front axle shafts).

I'm going to assume you're going to keep the orriginal offset housing, and do this simply for additional gear ratio selection? My biggest question would be why go this route? It seems like an overly compicated way to get better gearing.

I would think that an easier way would be to have a 9" housing fabricated with an offset diff. Your thoughts included custom axles anyway, and then have the stock spindles attached to your new housing to keep it all M37 at the outside. I'm sure that Currie or Spidertrax could fab up something like this with the appropriate measurements, and it would be about the same cost and probably more accurate than modding the stock housing to fit the 9" dropout.

Currie and Spidertrax also make a 9" front housing using Dana 44 or 60 knuckles. Bruces ongoing post about D60 shafts in the stock housing might lead to some insight in swapping the M37 spindles (or hubs) to this knuckle setup too. It would look totally stock-ish from the outside, and nobody would notice unless they poked their head underneath to discover that you've made some serious upgrades.

[Gordon Maney]

I have been studying the set up and rebuild of the differential and for a while now have contemplated the idea of swapping a nine inch ford for the stock dodge. Milling off the mounting plate and welding in a new plate set up for the nine inch. With custom shafts made (the rear for now due to the complexity of the front axle shafts).

Hi..... would you go into your user control panel [User CP] and enter your correct email address, please? For quite a while I have been getting error messages indicating that mail could not reach you from the forum.

I hope all is well with you there....

Gordon

[TK064]

The ford is shallower so you would need to mill into the case to seat the 3rd member deeper and then weld the part in. I have also contemplated the same and have the parts, I just haven't taken the plunge yet, of course I am also looking at the front and the offset is tight. I was hoping others would perfect the axle re-fit first. For the rear you could use a 9" fabbed housing and PW or D60 spindles (or snouts) and keep your PW tire and rims.

[rush]

The ford is shallower so you would need to mill into the case to seat the 3rd member deeper and then weld the part in. I have also contemplated the same and have the parts, I just haven't taken the plunge yet, of course I am also looking at the front and the offset is tight. I was hoping others would perfect the axle re-fit first. For the rear you could use a 9" fabbed housing and PW or D60 spindles (or snouts) and keep your PW tire and rims.

How far off are the dimensions. Mounting surface to axle center line? I don't have access to any examples , just idea's.

[Bruce B]

you would have to recess the 9" half the distance of the ring gear sizes.
ford= 9"
dodge=9 5/8"
5/8" differance
total recess= 5/16"
BB