Gears & Axles - 8.8 questions???

So my 10 bolt is about at its end and i want to do an 8.8 conversion. I order the TA bracket from hilsty a member on her to weld to the 8.8 housing. Now from the research I have done I understand the the Ford Explorer rear-end can be an 8.8 and I have found one at a local junk yard. Checked the diff tage and it is an 8.8. I also read that they are a total of 2 inches narrower then the stock 10 bolt. Am I correct? I have checked out many build threads and have seen guys cut up both rear-ends to make one using the 8.8 housing and the 10 bolt tubes.

So now my question is, can you just use the whole 8.8 with welding on the proper shock brackets, spring brackets so on and so forth. My main concern is that i want the wheels and tires to sit in stock location WITHOUT using wheel spacers. Of course I'm going to do 31 spline axels, c-clip eliminaters, 3.73's the works. So does anyone make an axel that has an end that is a little bit taller kind of like a disk brake with the studs sticking out.

Sorry that was a lot. Just trying to convey everything now.

You can simply move the suspension mounts from a 10 bolt onto the 8.8 tubes, then jig it and narrow it. Then you need to swap brakes and still figure out a solution to the axles

Easiest solution that keep it the same physical dimensions as the 4th gen 10 bolt is to swap the 10 bolt tubes in with custom 31 sp axles. Its not that difficult

FYI, you can build your own TA bracket for about $20 worth of steel from a lowes. Less if theres a metal dealer near you. Again, its not that difficult

Explorer center section is offset to one side. It will not work in the camaro. You will need to modify the tubes. Whether you splice in yours from the 10 bolt or some pipe and put on new ends and transfer the susp brackets, you will have to modify the housing to work in the camaro.

Ok I didn't know it was offset to one side. I don't mind if I have to modify the tubes just seeing if there was a way to do it without modifying it. I'm going to pull a rear-end this weekend.

Almost all 8.8's are offset. When swapping the 10 bolt tubes it makes no difference what 8.8 you start with, as the offset junk gets chopped off

i found out that f-150's have 8.8's with longer tubes so i'm gonna try and find one of those and just cut down the tubes to fix the offset and make it the correct length for an f-body.