Buddy of mine wants to off the 8.8 in the rear of his 91 F150 and replace it with a 9". He wants to know if the lack of ABS sensors in the 9" will mess with the computer (He doesn't want them anyhow). Is this swap even worth it? Pros & Cons.
Thanks :beer:

go for it, as long as he can get the 9 for cheap, will it mess with the ABS? yes, it will turn it off and the ABS light will turn on, but remove the blub to the light and it will be fine

Yeah, but what is he getting for the swap? No C-clips, but a weak pinion bearing support in the stock 3rd member. Unless he's planning on building a 3rd member or the 8.8 blows up, I disagree with the common belief that the 9" is better. It's certainly not significantly stronger in stock form, and for what it costs to build one, go D60 and be done with it.

I was going to give a long winded post on why I think he should go with the 9" but fawk it!:D :D Sufice it to say I think the 9" is the way to go if it will bolt in. Good luck!!!


Eric

I'm more inclined to say why bother? If the 8.8" hasn't failed yet what is the point of swappping it out for a 9"?

It won't screw w/anything other than the RABS which is useless anyway. Why bother? It's all 1/2t running gear, don't waste your time. Go full-floater or go home

You could argue for hours about whether actual diff on a 9" is better than an 8.8". But personally I have seen many more 9" housings fail than on the 8.8. LIke everyone esle has said though, there is not enough difference between the two to justify the time it would take to swap.

Ok, so is it worth it to swap out a 7.5 and put in an 8.8? :D Or maybe I should pull the HD44 and FF 14 bolt out of my Cruiser and slap 'em in my Ranger? Hmmmmm.

Anyway, I echo what has been said. Why bother swapping an 8.8 for a 9 when you could almost as easily swap in a D60? Blow up the 8.8 first. Or, pull out the 8.8 and give it to me and then you could be justified in throwing in a 9". :D