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Rear end dilemma

Sounds a lot like some of our Friday and Saturday nite forays at the round track back in the day. You learn a lot on the fly when your pressed for time. I'm glad I didn't get addicted to that or did I? Oh hell CRS again. Getting down in the Dirty South!!! ROLL TIDE ROLL And Zandoz what the hell is a drill press, just kidding!!
Yea Buddy! Spent a few nites up there at the Talledegga Dirt Track across from the speedway way back when. One of the fastest cars used to run off the the 1st corner toward the road, there was all manner of hell being raised off over there, you could see cups aflyin', folks yelling cuss words, birds being flipped, then a couple of seconds later, he'd come back on the track about the middle of the back straightaway....wild and crazy but fun as hell. Drillpress? Where????
 
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Screaming Metal, I used to do the tuning on a couple of Mustangs with 2.3 pinto motors that ran at Little Talledegga. We had a few tangles. Went over the berm a few times and sent some over too. Liked watching Red Farmer running there.
 
Screaming Metal, I used to do the tuning on a couple of Mustangs with 2.3 pinto motors that ran at Little Talledegga. We had a few tangles. Went over the berm a few times and sent some over too. Liked watching Red Farmer running there.
Yes in Deed! I really enjoyed sitting up in the concrete bleachers, eating a hotdog, trying to keep buckshot off my food, great little racetrack! hahaha....the unlimiteds would run as fast as most cars on asphalt! Hahaha....
Now those folks took their cars seriously!
 
Red Farmer, Hut Stricklin, Davey Allison and many more . Legends on the short tracks around here. Good memories. By the way that wasn't Red pullin' that maneuver at 'dega was it. Saw him do it more than once at Montegomery. Hellava driver and person
 
I did see a young gun with a hot car, bang on Red 3 times going in front of the stands. Next lap, guess who was out of the race and needed a new car. Red came out with the hammers back, but I think the youngster was thinking, "whut happened".
 
I am surprised the T-bird axle is 4 bolt. I shopped for one of these cars a long time and I was thinking it was 5 lug. I guess my memory is getting bad. There is a chart on the net that gives axle widths for Fords. If you can find that it might help. If the T-bird is indeed a 4 lug and everything is good for it, like fit, price, centering, gears, etc, look into just swapping axle shafts.
If it has disc brakes you will need the rotors also. Some of the Mustang axles are 4 lug and the axles out of a Ford ranger are the same length and 5 lug. The backing plates are the same, but you will need the 5 lug brake drums. Do not give up the perfect axle it is out there.

The foxbody T birds were 4 bolt. When they came out with the MN-12 (89-97)chassis they switched to a 5 x 4.25 bolt pattern which would require redrilling as well. I thought I had read once that Ranger axles did not have the offset that the explorer rear end has. Some Aerostar vans also have 8.8's.
 
Red Farmer, Hut Stricklin, Davey Allison and many more . Legends on the short tracks around here. Good memories. By the way that wasn't Red pullin' that maneuver at 'dega was it. Saw him do it more than once at Montegomery. Hellava driver and person
Yea, it was Red, someone had cut him off, he went off the end there, you could hear him backpedaling back and forth on the gas going around people, one guy threw a beer can into his car, he tossed it out when he came back onto the track.
The announcer was laughing saying thats helluva way to want to get something cold to drink. Everybody laughed but they knew he was out for blood being run off like that. The next weekend the Outlaws from Tenn. were there, the 'Bama outlaws were pissed because they didn't think they were being taken seriously. One of the Bama boys got in there and mixed it up with ole Wolfgang....you could see tiremarks all over that little sprint car.
 
Yea Jay, I think the Rangers are centered, like the S10's....
 
The foxbody T birds were 4 bolt. When they came out with the MN-12 (89-97)chassis they switched to a 5 x 4.25 bolt pattern which would require redrilling as well. I thought I had read once that Ranger axles did not have the offset that the explorer rear end has. Some Aerostar vans also have 8.8's.
Yea Jay, I think the Rangers are centered, like the S10's....

According to The Ranger Station tech page on the 8.8"ers, the Ranger and Explorer units both have the 2" or so offset. The Ranger 7.5"ers may well be centered, but they do not have the dick brakes.

I knew that some of the Aerostars had 8.8"s, but I've found no concrete info on their width. I found one mention that the ranger and Aerostar units are the same...but they obviously have completely different suspensions <shrug>. Since I'm trying to build this as light as I can, to keep from putting any extra load on the little V6, I'd love to find one of the rare late 80s Aerostar Dana aluminum units if they were remotely close to being wide enough
 

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