Rear end question

[obie16]

Bare with me fellas I know this question has probably been aasked a million times. but what rear end works best in these trucks, I'm looking for a posi trac. and I want a nice crusing gears, I've heard that 3:73 gears are a good chocie. any suggestions would help out greatly.

[Wvgearhead]

I picked up a 8.8 out of a ford explorer. It is 1/2" narror than stock width, has 31 spline axles, and most are posi's. I picked mine up for $100, 373 posi with disc brakes. Its good if your going to run a mustang II cause you can get it with the 4 1/2 -5 ford pattern. If not you can either get new axles or drill your old ones to match your front. I havent put mine under the truck yet. check out stovebolt.com , There is a post on rearends in the tech section. They have a lot of donor widths.

[silversvs]

What motor and tranny are you going to use? What size tires will you be running? I'm running a sbc 350 with Muncie M21 4 speed. I put in the Ford 8.8 with posi and 3.73 gears with current tires being 25" in diameter. Unfortunately it's geared too low. I can smoke the tires in every gear and get great holeshots but can't cruise the freeway comfortably. I ordered up some 3.08s which are going in on Saturday. When these tires are done I'm going to jump up to 30-32" diameter to add rake and more cruisability.

[mylow53]

in the ford 9" it's near impossible to get rid of the gear wine from a 3:73 ratio. so my rear end guy told me. he said the gear set is from nascar and most gear manufactures won't make them due to the returns from a whine sound. i went with 3:50's and that got rid of the wine and helped the freeway speed... this is of course subject to great discussion so please direct your "experience" to my gear guy...
mark at coast drivelines in oxnard california. he will give you an ear full. and unless you have a free afternoon don't ask him what he thinks about synthetic oil in his gear sets
GT

[obie16]

Okay sorry guys let me refrase my question, when i meant by which rear end will work i meant what is a good donor rear end (my Bad) anyways sorry about that but i guess i do know that 3:73 are not my best choice. But back to my main question I have access to a 1984 3/4 ton rear end and a 4dr nova rear end ( not sure the Year) again any help would be great thanks guys and sorry for the phraseing of my question.

[bobinbc]

I used a Nova rear in mine, worked great. 1968 up to I think 75 they are 60" wide, 76 and up are the same as 70-81 Camaro which is a very popular swap.

This is a 72 Nova rear with 275/50-15 tires on 8" rims with 3.5" backspace. It's not apparent in the pic but it was a tight fit, barely enough room to get a finger between the tire and the inner fender lip....

[raycow]

Originally Posted by obie16

I have access to a 1984 3/4 ton rear end and a 4dr nova rear end ( not sure the Year)

Of the two choices you gave, your best bet is the Nova, as long as it is 68 or newer. You probably wouldn't like the 3/4 ton at highway speeds unless you have overdrive. Besides that, it's an 8 lug full-floater and very heavy.

Ray