Who's running a Ford 9"

[SRSCOUT]

After rebuilding the 9" in my son's 78 F-150 I got thinking about it as a crawler axle. Yes it's got a low pinion but in a rig with plenty of rear drive line (such as an early Bronco) that wouldn't be too big of an issue. It looks like it would have really good clearance. I have read posts claiming that the housings will bend easy, but others that say this isn't the case. Also that a nodular center section such as a Strange or Currie is mandatory, but again posts that say the stock center is fine.

So what is necessary to get a 9" to hold up on moderately big tires (35" MTZ's) in a somewhat heavier vehicle with a V8?

 

[Toad]

Back in my dumb ass youth I managed to blow 3 9 inch center sections. It was a stock 390 f150 with 33" rubber. In the trucks defense I drove that thing like it was a rally truck. I think a nodular center section is a must for a 9 inch. I would break the area supporting the 3rd pinion bearing.

 

[Greg]

Back in my dumb ass youth I managed to blow 3 9 inch center sections. It was a stock 390 f150 with 33" rubber. In the trucks defense I drove that thing like it was a rally truck. I think a nodular center section is a must for a 9 inch. I would break the area supporting the 3rd pinion bearing.

Having seen a Ford 9" grenade on the trail and spit out pieces & components I would strongly agree with upgrading to a nodular center section! The low pinion is a negative, too... but it's an axle that has so much aftermarket support, it can be upgraded any which way if you have the $$$.

 

[SRSCOUT]

So would it be that much of an upgrade from a Dana 44? I have Moser shafts in my 44 that's in the rig now. So is a 9" enough of a gain to justify the expense, or would the next logical upgrade be a Dana 60?

 

[Jinx]

In my head Dana 44 = stock ford 9".

That being said you can build a 9" with nodular center and 35 spline shafts for a pretty mean axle but then you bend axle tubes,

Start saving then when/if you blow up your 44 you can do a full float 60.

 

[xjtony]

I ran a 9 in my Cherokee for years with no issues. Blew up the front 44 several times, but the 9 was mostly problem free, even running 38 TSLs

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

 

[skippy]

I am building nine inches for my promod and with an aftermarket axe housing, gear works 10" third member and some 300m 35 spline shafts they hold up pretty good..... So all in all in anything resembling stock form they suck. I have a mostly stock one in my CJ on 35s and have broken it more time than I can count

 

[ID Bronco]

I ran a big bearing 35 spline Chromoly's with Detroit and 38 & 40 inch tires and the only failure was one Detroit. If I was building I'd go 60, but the 9" is an awesome axle.

 

[Cody]

I ran a rear 9 in my old buggy...318 v8, 37" creepy crawlers etc. I converted it to disk brakes and ran a full spool, but otherwise stock and I never broke anything on that nor did I ever have issues with my driveline being too low.

I did blow up every last conceivable part of the front 44 (except the lockrite, the lockrite magically survived everything) on that rig, but the 9 never gave me a single moment of grief.

 

[thenag]

So would it be that much of an upgrade from a Dana 44? I have Moser shafts in my 44 that's in the rig now. So is a 9" enough of a gain to justify the expense, or would the next logical upgrade be a Dana 60?

(we are talking rear axle right?)

In stock form I wouldn't take a Ford 9 or a rear dana 60, a lot of the rear d60's had 30 spline shafts and seemed like they were not much stronger than a Ford 9/D44. Either the Ford 9 or the 60 can be built to be a ridiculously strong rear axle. For stock rear's it is tough to beat the old GM14 bolt for pure strength, ease of gear change, disk brake conversion, etc of course the two huge drawbacks are weight and ground clearance. another good JY find is dana 70's you can find them under ford vans. If you want to keep it Ford the sterling 10.25 is pretty tough axle too, although less aftermarket support than the other two.

Remember you can swap the front d44 to 8 lug using a mix of GM 8 lug d44 parts. (and that will be much cheaper than building a ford 9 or a 60 for rear)

*edit* I thought we were talking about axles to put under a 78 f150, sorry you said crawler axle...

At one time ford 9's were everywhere, people were having front axles made out of them, doing high pinon center sections etc. Much like d60's are everywhere now, it seems like 15 years ago everyone wanted some form of a Ford 9.

Nathan

 

[Gravy]

You can build a 9 cheap. You can pickup a back support off summit and a nascar takeout 3rd with a Daytona pinion support and a spool for cheap on ebay. Throw some 35 spline shafts in and you've got a recipe that can handle big power. I've seen people break stock thirds and bend housings, but they were being dumb. I ran a stock 1976 f150 rear with a N third from a junkyard with 4.88s and 35s and beat on it.