Gears & Axles - Another 8.8 Build

So I'm kind of on a budget but the biggest thing for me is that I wanted to try this out and be able to say that I built my rear end. So here it goes. It all started because I've owned a few fox bodies so I had an extra 8.8 rear end in my garage. I saw a few months back that people were custom fabricating Ford 8.8 rears to put in their car. All of that inspired me to attempt this.

I'm a mechanical engineer intern and I talked to the guy who does the tooling for our wax injection molds and I was casually talking one day and this idea popped up. Well it turns out he has a lathe and a mill in his garage. He has been a machinist for 14 years and he said we could get it done. So I went to the junkyard on the hunt for a 10 bolt...I wanted a spare to hack up and still be able to drive my car in the mean time. I gave him all of the measurements and told him exactly where and how much to cut. He has never done anything automotive machining wise so all the measurements and geometry was on me.

I took the junk 10 bolt and measured everything literally 5 times and then i drew a blueprint of the 10 bolt on computer with all of the factory dimensions. I wanted to make the new 8.8 to the 10 bolt specs.

I have the entire housing done and welded up and I'm going to start the torque arm mount this coming week. If anyone has any insight (aside from the welding process) please chime in and let me know of any tips. I'm going to use the 10 bolt pumpkin to measure off of to build my new torque arm mount. Here is a few pics of what we did.


http://i913.photobucket.com/albums/ac339/brianwolf3/th_IMG_1234.jpg (http://s913.photobucket.com/albums/ac339/brianwolf3/?action=view&current=IMG_1234.jpg)

8.8 Housing cut 6" and the edges trued using a lathe.


http://i913.photobucket.com/albums/ac339/brianwolf3/th_IMG_1236.jpg (http://s913.photobucket.com/albums/ac339/brianwolf3/?action=view&current=IMG_1236.jpg)

Turning the 10 bolt tubes down to slide into the 8.8 housing. After turning the tubes the wall thickness was still thicker than the 8.8 tubes. 10 bolt tubes are surprisingly thick.

http://i913.photobucket.com/albums/ac339/brianwolf3/th_IMG_1239.jpg (http://s913.photobucket.com/albums/ac339/brianwolf3/?action=view&current=IMG_1239.jpg)

Tube after being turned.


http://i913.photobucket.com/albums/ac339/brianwolf3/th_IMG_1246.jpg (http://s913.photobucket.com/albums/ac339/brianwolf3/?action=view&current=IMG_1246.jpg)

Tube installed into 8.8 housing.


http://i913.photobucket.com/albums/ac339/brianwolf3/th_IMG_1251.jpg (http://s913.photobucket.com/albums/ac339/brianwolf3/?action=view&current=IMG_1251.jpg)

Completed housing with the tubes welded together.

looks well done!

I just need to figure out this torque arm mount and it'll be a cake walk. Ive been looking for pictures of other setups to get ideas from.

Looks good! You should post up your blue prints lol

Sure. When I get home this afternoon I will post up all of my blueprints and measurements.

Awesome! I'll be starting my swap within the week

What are your plans for the torque arm?

If anyone has some extra F-body axles laying around and wants to let me use them for mock up let me know. They have to be ls1 axles with ASR though. I'll pay the shipping and I'll send them back when I'm done.

I have a hiltsy torque arm mount for the explorer housing

If you want to email me those blueprints i would be grateful

If your still looking for a torque arm for your 8.8, here is one I found when I was putting a ls1 into a 90 mazda rx7 for my son. Go to http://www.grannysspeedshop.com/ 375986
I am going to try to do this when I do my 8.8

hth
andy schuck

could i get those blueprints as well? thanks

I never got them, i think he disappeared lol. I just started my 8.8 project

Another member interested in those blueprints!

I didnt disappear. I was trying to dig them up but turns out they're on my desktop in which the motherboard crashed. I'm replacing the motherboard by this weekend and I can get the prints and send them to people...no worries

Sounds great. I have an 8.8 at the beginning stages of fabbing up. I have way too many projects going on though. Keep us posted on how you do your torque arm. I am just about settled on fabricating my own torque arm.

I'm also in the process of putting stuff together. I have a explorer 8.8, spare 10 bolt, hiltsy tq arm mount, ect. I just don't have a carrier in the 10 bolt to get some good blue prints. So I've read a guy located the tubes in the 8.8 by just sliding the axles in and putting the c clips and center pin and everything and assembling the brakes to get the depth right on the tubes. What do you guys think of that?

I image that will work for fit-up, but I would recommend an alignment bar to keep everything lined up during welding.

Yes sir I've got a jump start on that as well

How much of an interference fit did you machine into the tubes? Did you have to press them in? Did you drill holes in what was left of the 8.8 tubes for additional welds to the GM ends?

I used a light drive fit (BFH) and drilled holes like this:

http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy70/hiltsy855/DSCN6463.jpg

I think that's a wise addition by adding those holes.

When you say it took a hammer to drive them in...did you get an actual measurement of the interference fit?

Yes I'll be plug welding mine as well. I got alot of my info and motivation from Hiltsy's thread

I think that's a wise addition by adding those holes.

When you say it took a hammer to drive them in...did you get an actual measurement of the interference fit?

No I really didn't measure. For my axle tubes I used 2 7/8" tubing (2 1/2" black pipe) and since the 8.8 stubs were 2 7/8" I.D. it was just a size-on-size fit. Manufacturing tolerances on pipe & tubing aren't tight anyway so what worked on mine wouldn't necessarily work on another one. I didn't sweat the fit too much since I was plug-welding anyway plus I welded the housing ends on afterwards (with an alignment bar) to get proper alignment.

Does anyone know off hand if the Hiltsy TA mount will work on a Ranger 8.8?

Does anyone know off hand if the Hiltsy TA mount will work on a Ranger 8.8?

He told me in a PM that it was designed around a explorer rear so if your ranger rear is close to a explorer rear i would think you can make it work.

Typo up top. I have no idea why I asked that question... The rear I was emailing the guy about WAS an Explorer rear end. Unfortunately, the door code was "45" which made it a 3.55 open diff. Useless to me.

The search continues