johnny.race

Do you still have these? I have had 4 of these for around 9 years now. I remember balking at the cost of them back then. I am sure I paid something like a couple of hundy a pair or something. Maybe that was for all 4 of them, I can't remember. I dunno, but I knew they were expensive at the time. I've always thought they were pretty beefy and robust. I've never had problems with them. I wonder if they have changed the gauge of plate they are using? If you still have yours would you put a pair of verniers over them in order to determine the material thickness they are made from. I will do mine.

Any diff that has equal length axles will not have the pinion centered within said diffs width. Most jap utes (I have not seen all of them but am talking about Luxers and Couriers et.al) have equal length axles. For instance the pinion offset of a OEM Lux is over an inch. This surprises people at times when they have lined up the pinion with the gearbox and then proceeded to weld stuff in/on then find they can run stagger if they want to. Then on the other side of the tree you have diffs like the BW78 which has the pinion more or less centered within it width. This is achieved by having a longer drivers side axle than what is found on the passenger side. Factory 9 inchers are like this also. Funny old world. Carrying this on and adding to what @cletus was saying about his A body (a Valiant) having some offset. He is talking about engine offset. You need to be aware of and factor this into diff swaps to if you are aligning tailshafts with pinions. Especially on those MoPars. Ahh, thank god for string lines and plumb bobs.

My understanding is that the 8.8 is/was the factory's replacement option for applications they would have used a 9 inch if they were still making them. A 9 inch equipped to the same spec as the Explorer diff would be a pricey beast indeed. I'm a 9 inch owner but fuck ... one of those 8.8's in the flesh is a big arse beasty of a diff. Hey Clint ... you must be running some 'up there' pinion offset by running 2 axles the same length?

That knurl diameter on the new item looks smaller than the one that came out. Yes, no? Its my experience that while enlarging wheel stud holes might be easy to do as you put it, getting them spot on is a little harder. The true test that the PCD has been re-done correctly can usually first be determined by how well a decent fitting set of shank style lug nuts are screws on when fitting a mag rim. Just saying.

This is a 1350 setup. The cap diameter of the UJ is approx 1 3/16" and the cross is around the 3 5/8" mark, when its fitted. The part number for the UJ is U 1640. This is the cheaper model that features no grease nipple.

Those Falcons, Holdens ... they are all a bit on the small side if you are running something like a 9" I reckon. You go through the trouble and expense to install a strong diff then handicap the deal by running a small UJs if running anything off a coon or commy. The black yoke in the pic below is a 1350 OEM 9" item. The rusty one next to it is one I found here that came from off a 90 something Coon. I dunno what size it is but probably a 1330 or similar at a guess. I have seen plenty of 1310 stuff - they are puny. Another 1350 one but a billet by Strange.

I've never really looked into it but will say this - 9" diffs run a range of UJ's. I've seen 1330's and 1350's on ones sitting here OEM. And I've seen what looks similar in size to a 1310 come off BW78's so yeah dunno ... but 1350 is the good size matey.

Yeah, its a lot of work though. The same thing has to happen on the other side of the chassis also - for the idler arm. I did it the way seen in the pic the last time I did it but wondered if there was something easier. I've mucked around with a heap of Hilux 2WD chassis stuff from the 80's but have never come across a pwr steer 56/57. I shoulda used a LN85 from the get go. They all look the same but they are not. This one above is a 56 with a 85 front clip grafted on. The join is under the engine plate mount with the fish plates acting as plate mount reinforcement/locating tang also. I have another one to do but this one is going to be street driven so was looking for a factory install option as first dibs.

Does anyone know (for sure) if the LN56 (mid 80's ... 84 to 88) 2WD ute ever came out with power steering? Ever seen or owned one? Talking 2WD not 4WD. Ta.

Cheers mate. I was wondering what it was going to look like. What diameter are you going for?

I am posting couple of pics so someone can have a look at them. Axle resplining stuff. BW78 Falcon axle shortened and resplined for use in the passenger side of an early 9". Disc brakes are the added bonus.

Yeah, there is a lot of work and figuring out to get everything where they need to be I would be guessing. The distance between each axle differs between the big Ford and the BW78. I have narrowed both and one you do everything from the rear meaning the driver axle is on your right hand side. The 9" is done from its from front and the same axle is now on your left. What a mind fuck, lol.

No, I haven't matey.

Any diff that is running 2 axles the same length has a pinion off set from center. Most diffs that feature differing length axles in the rear (in OEM form) will have the pinion centered.

Yeah, that'd be right ... near all Hilux diffs run two the same length axles and feature a pinion that is offset towards the driver side around 28mm in OEM form. Matches your hanger off set pretty much well.

Sometimes the chain and the jack swap positions, but pretty much like this for the most part. I use heat with this setup too sometimes. I use big blocks of wood too. It depends how much it needs to move and which part needs to do the moving. I don't (ever, lol) bend it with the bar running right through either. The bar is basically for checking. Some cunts actually weld them up with the bar still in them then wonder why it becomes stucked' in there.

I ran the alignment bar through a couple of OEM length/uncut housings today in order to check their suitability for a job. Sometimes when a certain pinion offset and width of diff is wanted, it can be got by cutting only one side of correctly selected factory width housing. The challenge then becomes one of sourcing that width that is in a usable condition ...especially on the side that you are not going to shorten. Candidate on the bench. The first side looks pretty good. Its almost on and for a factory ute diff with a zillion mils on it - I'd call it straight. Note, the bearing cup assembly can't be pushed on by hand when its being held center to the axle axis by the alignment bar. But take the bar away and it'll slip straight in and work/look correctly. Pity this is the side that's getting chopped. Meanwhile at the other end ... Near all of the OEM width ones I've checked (but I don't do all of them) are somewhere inbetween these two. Its a funny old world ... demanding tolerances measured in 0.000"s is the only acceptable standard for some parts of them while other parts ... try but yeah ... nah. lol! Ps. My bar and dummy bearings are good if you were wondering and the stuff I do comes out straaight as! (really) Churr.

This sounds ruff as fuck but I reckon its better than thinking you can use a normal lathe tooling setup to do it at home and get a guaranteed decent result. Plus it'd leave a decent cross hatched surface unlike a cutting tool would. I've seen attempts at skimming rotors on a lathe before. I've seen what happens when a single sided lathe tool hits a hard/hot spot and minutely bounces. If you can exert accurate control over a grinder there are a lot of things one can do in the shed-rat world and expect professional level results. I reckon anyway.

No mate, never.

Ahh, ok then, @yetchh was right, I stand corrected. It was a later coon I saw the bum of. Sweet. Water blast and tuck these things away for a rainy day and tear down. They are all LSD's too. I'm wondering if that ute one might be a 25 spliner.

Hmmm, maybe I got the XD part wrong. The only distinguishable part to me was a rear tail light and it looked like from what i remember as being XD. I'm not a Fordy guy and only know then by body shape pretty much well. Did the later ones (the next ones) have XD-ish type tail lights also? The car had been munted by the loader and digger before I got told about them. Of note, the later one has a link setup and not leaf. Would that say i was wrong thinking it was an XD I was looking at? When did the coons go to that 4 link?

His paint doesn't shine anymore and he hasn't got an un-dinged panel to his name. He's runs leaf springs in the front and is almost topped out at the legal speed limit. 26 years young and still the fucking business! Coon diffs. Thought of you @igor :)) Hey @yetchh I had to go back and check those pics you posted earlier. Two of these diffs feature vented rotors. I'd seen the later type before but not the cast iron type. The car was an XC by the looks of it. They are like your ones aye? It was stripped and had been fucked over by the loader, but XC as far as I could tell. The later one was an XD and the drum one was out of a ute that was either an XB or an XC as far as I could too. The old stuff is still out there, just gotta look wayyy harder now. All of them measured in at 1550mm outside to outside give or take a few mm either way. I have got a couple of 9"'s to do so have been tuned into BW/Ford sorta stuff of late. Stay warm.

Yep, ta for this. I had a gut feeling about saying no to this. Someone asked me if I would do it for them. Glad I said nup. Cool. Ta.

Has anyone had any experience putting 'toe in' into a live axle (diff)? Hows it done? How'd you measure it and how'd you go with it?

I must be missing something here ... why is the head coming off before you have determined where you have a geometry and or bind problem? This sorta shit generally takes two people ... one doing the turning and the other armed with a flashlight and magnifying glass. Are these engines known to be problematic in terms of piston to valve clearance?