Hey guys been tinkering with the idea of building a 9" front axle. I have a 35 spline 9" out back and a 44 in front. I'm trying to find out if there was a 9" available that had enough axle tube to make a drivers side drop front without retubing. My rear 9" is 60" from flange to flange around 65" wms, leaving what would be the long side tube about 3-4" short of where I would want it to mimick the placement of my D44. I looked at just building it with that difference, but it looks like I might cut it close with driveshaft - exhaust clearance and the center section under the oil pan.

Were there any 9" built close to the 70" wms range?

Spydertrax makes any flavor you want for $399

I don't have the measurements handy, but a 9" from an Econoline van might fit the bill.

By the time you finish trussing a stock 9" housing to be strong enough in the front you could have bought one already built. Ruff Stuff housings rock and can be ran the way they are.

Thanks for the responses guys, I know there are badass fabricated housings out there but the fab is a hell of a lot more fun for me, and I have plenty of steel and a new plasma cutter to make things happen. Call me crazy but if I can find a housing it should be fun :D

I'll definately be checkin out the info from those vans also, thanks zainy.

Why are you against retubing it? Sounds like you got a decent fab shop and you said you enjoy fab work so I would just retube one and then you know that it will work.

Hey guys been tinkering with the idea of building a 9" front axle. I have a 35 spline 9" out back and a 44 in front. I'm trying to find out if there was a 9" available that had enough axle tube to make a drivers side drop front without retubing. My rear 9" is 60" from flange to flange around 65" wms, leaving what would be the long side tube about 3-4" short of where I would want it to mimick the placement of my D44. I looked at just building it with that difference, but it looks like I might cut it close with driveshaft - exhaust clearance and the center section under the oil pan.

Were there any 9" built close to the 70" wms range?

Late 70's Econoline van has the widest rear 9" ~ 67-69" WMS as I recall.

Although as stated earlier, you'd be ahead just buying a prefabbed housing rather than trying to keep the relatively thin 9" housing from warping when you burn in the knuckle C's and the differential armor.

I've never seen a 69 inch 9 inch, but that does not mean they are not out there.
Most van's I have even seen are 67 inches.
I have a 9 inch from one and when I was looking that is the widest I could find.

I had a 72 ford van, the engine was offset several inches to the right and IIRC the cargo floor was either 54" or 56" between the wheelwells. I don't know how wide the axle was, but it seems to reason that it would be at least 4 to 6 inches wider than a typical truck 9 inch.

So Scouter, are you implying the center section is offset to the passenger side in that rear application, or just the fact that they are wide under those vans?

Hey guys been tinkering with the idea of building a 9" front axle. I have a 35 spline 9" out back and a 44 in front. I'm trying to find out if there was a 9" available that had enough axle tube to make a drivers side drop front without retubing. My rear 9" is 60" from flange to flange around 65" wms, leaving what would be the long side tube about 3-4" short of where I would want it to mimick the placement of my D44. I looked at just building it with that difference, but it looks like I might cut it close with driveshaft - exhaust clearance and the center section under the oil pan.

Were there any 9" built close to the 70" wms range?

Get out of here you have a Jeep. We're Jeep diseases free here.:flipoff2: Haha.

Oh and you belong? You've been replacing ford parts with yota...I seent it!

I've been replacing jeep parts with ford and I ain't ashamed lol. Half my front 44 is ford anyways. I'm stuck in a huge dilemma with what I want to do with the front axle right now...keep the 44 and beef it up (RCV shafts), or just cut my losses and go to a 60 and shave it, or 609...or 449 with RCV shafts...damnit.

read teenycars yj build.

So Scouter, are you implying the center section is offset to the passenger side in that rear application, or just the fact that they are wide under those vans?

Sorry but the van was a beater that I only owned a couple of years and sent to the crusher about 15 years ago and I don't remember if the axle was centered or not. Mine was actually a 3/4 ton and had a FF 60, but I have seen 1/2 tons of the same year that had 9 inchers, they had the same body so they must of also had a wide axle

Oh and you belong? You've been replacing ford parts with yota...I seent it!

I've been replacing jeep parts with ford and I ain't ashamed lol. Half my front 44 is ford anyways. I'm stuck in a huge dilemma with what I want to do with the front axle right now...keep the 44 and beef it up (RCV shafts), or just cut my losses and go to a 60 and shave it, or 609...or 449 with RCV shafts...damnit.

More than you. At least 95% of my shit is ford. It also roll out of a ford factory. So yes more than you poser. :flipoff2:

I had one out of an early 70's Ford Econoline. The rear end was super wide. 67-69 inches depending on where you measured from. I had the long side cut down so the axle lengths would be similar. The pumpkin was offset to one side.

It was big bearing, with bigger brake cylinders than any other Ford 9 inch I have seen. The crazy thing was that it had 28 spline shafts that did not taper down.

Found the pics. The drivers side was the long side originally.
http://www.abunchofidiots.com/kevin/jeep/axleswap/100_6005.JPG

http://www.abunchofidiots.com/kevin/jeep/axleswap/100_6010.jpg

Damn thanks for that info and pics man! Thats exactly what I wanted to hear. If the drivers side tube was the long one, it would be great for a front drivers side drop front application. Might have to do some hunting.

I think anyway you go, unless you are putting it under a golf cart, you have to do work on both sides. Shorten one side, and lengthen the other. Otherwise the center section would be so far inboard, it would cause problems.

When you take into acount the distance from the inner knuckle to the wheel mount surface on a front axle, the actual width from the end of one axle tube to the other will be MUCH narrower than a rear axle. As I said in my first post

My rear 9" is 60" from flange to flange around 65" wms, leaving what would be the long side tube about 3-4" short of where I would want it to mimick the placement of my D44.

I did the measuring. If I got the same width housing as my rear to build my front, if I were to keep the same axle width (63.5"), the long tube would be 3-4" short, sucking the pumpkin over toward the center that distance.

So, if I were able to get a centered-pumpkin housing that measured out to 69" wms-wms compared to my 65", I would gain 2" of the 3 or 4 I wanted. Then as abunchofidiots said above,

I had one out of an early 70's Ford Econoline. The rear end was super wide. 67-69 inches depending on where you measured from. I had the long side cut down so the axle lengths would be similar. The pumpkin was offset to one side.
...Found the pics. The drivers side was the long side originally.

So a centered 69" housing would still be 1 or 2 inches short of what I needed, which is where the fact about the offset pumpkin comes into play. He said the drivers side was longer, in a front that means passenger side is longer, which means my long tube. That would make up the 1 or 2" difference I need, to copy the width of my D44.

Also take note, this was measured with D44 outers in mind, I'm sure D60 outers are "longer" than D44 in that respect.