MackTheFinger

1 hour ago, Los_Control said:

I have seen some videos on the strengthener of the 9". Seems they would add some gussets to the housing.

Now days they sell kits for them. Back in the day they were doing it in the garage with scrap metal.

 

While the housings had some weak points that needed some beefing up to handle the power, they did that and used them behind nitro dragsters.

Today they are still using the same concept.

Dennis Taylor building his car, He is hoping to get it in 6 seconds on the 1/4 mile. Rear end is all custom, no parts say Ford on it. But a custom built set of gears for a Ford 9" is the heart of it. He ordered his with larger side bearings etc ... he is running full floating axles on it like a 3/4 ton truck.

His thoughts is for safety, if it breaks a axle you wont lose the rear wheel. Might cost him some speed but his daughter is also driving the car.

Mine were breaking internally, at the pinion support. There's a thin place in the casting there. I was using junkyard parts and a lot of them were already cracked. The nodular iron housings would have worked better and the aftermarket diffs are hopefully beefed up there, too. Wheel hop in the Galaxie was killing them. If the rear end of the car shook you knew the diff was busted.. Once I learned to slip the clutch I didn't have that problem anymore. It was operator error as much as anything else..

45 minutes ago, Plymouthy Adams said:

any concern that a 8 3/4 even a 8 1/4 much less what ford has in 8.8 or 9 and who cares the junk GM has.....says you overbuilding for the street....get a rear axle from a golf cart, never in all the courses I have played nor of the matches televised have I ever see an golf cart off the fairway sitting on jack stands....?  I will stick with my mopar interceptor 9 1/4 sure track 2:88 

Now, PA; your anti GM bias is showing..  ? I agree with your assessment that almost anything will work for the street, unless you're one of those guys who thinks anything less than 500 HP is for sissies.

There's flat track racing at DuQuoin today!! ?

update: Just heard, races are cancelled.. ?

1 hour ago, Sniper said:

I ran a 64 300 with a warmed up 413, stick trans, N50's in the back with an 8 3/4, 4.10 gears, for years.  Tore an ear off the yoke on it once though.  Other than that I never had issues with the rear end.  Got another on the shelf for my Cuda.

That sounds like a great car!! 

I always liked Sox and Martin.. Along with Stone Woods and Cook, Big John Mazmanian, Grumpy Jenkins, Wild Willie Borsch, Dyno Don Nicholson, Don Garlits.. and E.J. Potter on two wheels. Those were my heroes...

Nothing in particular to do with this thread but in 1971 I broke at least half a dozen 9 inch Ford differential cases, one right after another. They all broke at the pinion support. I was running a 406 4-speed in a '62 Galaxie. The only way I could keep a rear end together was to slip the clutch until you could smell it, otherwise KA-BOOM!! and you're washing pieces of differential out of the axle tubes. I later ran '56-'57 Olds and 12 bolt Chevy's and never had a problem but I was running small block Chevy engines in Chevelles and Novas then. Those cars were easy on parts. You could just dump the clutch and bang gears. More fun than should be legal.. Supposedly an 8.8 Ford is good for 400 hp. If I manage to cram a 500 Caddy engine into my '47 Dodge I'll find out.

Pulling the battery cable as a first step could eliminate the battery as a problem but as others have pointed out there are other possibilities than the generator itself. I was taught that the generator motor test is fairly reliable. There's a YouTube video by Chris Fisher that demonstrates it on a positive ground generator. 

I look through the local obituaries fairly regularly, it's a sign of age I suppose.. A couple of days ago there was an obit for the brother of one of my old gf's. I bought his '65 Mustang while he was in Vietnam in '69 and the romance ended before he got back. About five years later I stopped by a shop run by a guy I knew pretty well and this tough looking long-haired guy came over, called me by name and said "I've seen your picture before. You're one of my sister's old boyfriends and you bought my car while I was in VN!!" It was a weird moment until he shook my hand, hugged me and said he was glad to finally meet me... He was in Savannah, Ga when he died and I found out that my old gf is somewhere in Texas.. I hope to never run into her again!!

Love the car!! Get 'er running and enjoy it as is!!

The OP asked a simple question, What rear axle would be the easiest swap into a 1947 Desoto?  and followed with questions about later model rear axles. Not once did they ask about the possibility of swapping gearing in their original differential or the merits of one braking system over another. Just to add to the conversation, other than the necessity of changing driveshafts swapping a "pumpkin" on one of these really isn't much simpler than changing the whole assembly. It is however, easier than arguing with a fence post.

1 hour ago, Ulu said:

The one thing I know about being in a cave is you don’t want to make loud noise this is because **** falls down from the roof

The Saltpetre Cave is really more a bowl scooped out of a cliff face. There was a place called Caveland at Festus, Mo just south of St Louis that had a skating rink and concerts back in the good ol days. MC5, Ted Nugent, Bob Seger, and a bunch of other people played there. I think it was originally a mine. Pretty cool place. Last I heard someone was living there. Maybe Fred and Wilma???

19 hours ago, maddmaxx1949 said:

Gathering of the Juggalos..

Yeah, that's somewhere you want to go! They useta hold that at Hogrock at Cave-In-Rock, Il. Law enforcement got it stopped. Wasn't my crowd so I never attended.

3 hours ago, Plymouthy Adams said:

 

chaos, breaking of the law on every level of the field...enjoy the festival...just be safe...

I doubt there'll be any real trouble. This is basically a blues and gospel line-up. The Blind Boys of Alabama is a straight up gospel group with a history going back to pre WWII, Dumpstaphunk is a New Orleans based group, sort of a continuation of the Neville Brothers, and the North Mississippi All Stars is a new-era blues band. None of them really encourage dangerous craziness. Most of the events I attended in years past were invitation only bike runs. Everyone understood that you should mind your own business and respect everyone else's right to do the same. The ones that allowed the general public to attend were different. The level of respect went way down and problems followed. 

I agree whole heartedly with what you said in your first response.  The world would be better if everyone understood it.

We do not all have to like the same things.. only a few things in common is basically all you need to establish a kinship 

That said, I doubt we'll attend this one. I've seen the three I mentioned earlier in this post and have no desire to put up with the crowd and the heat this time. 

3 hours ago, Ulu said:

Cave concerts? 

They had concerts at the old Saltpetre Cave site in the '70s and early '80s. The locals weren't too happy about it and I doubt there was much profit since the place was unsecured and basically nobody paid to get in. The new owners have been working on the property for the last 20 years or so and made a bunch of improvements. 

2 hours ago, Sniper said:

More like my mom, lol.

You guys are making me feel old.. or closer to my age, anyway.. just earlier today I was talking with a friend I hadn't seen for a long time. He said he now has 13 grandkids and his youngest son was finally getting married at 36 years old. This old friend is younger than me!

3 hours ago, Los_Control said:

Yeah probably not what you meant to say.

I would venture we all lived a life and we all lived them our own ways. I would then venture to say your Grandmother wore a mini skirt and go go boots.

Yeah we get by today, our grandparents were way more cool then we are.

My granny was born sometime around 1885 and died in 1960. I rember her well. No miniskirts then. OTOH I was present for all the fun stuff. Someone gave my wife some pics of our wedding recently. I can honestly say I'd forgotten how shockingly short her maid of honor's dress was!! ?

But if I was 20 years younger. I'd already be at the old Saltpetre Cave with my sleeping bag beside my Harley, waiting for the band to fire up!! Looking at the lineup this is a really ambitious project. Coming off the heels of the shutdowns it's bound to be a real clusterfxxx, just like I like it!! ?

p.s If you aren't familiar with some of the bands they're all on YouTube somewhere.. I've seen some of 'em live already..

https://southernmostillinois.com/venue/shawnee-cave-amphitheater/

p.s.s. I was just reminded that the ol' Wildwood Flower is legal in Illinois. Can you imagine what this is gonna be like?? 

That sucks a big one... We're all looking at the same thing eventually one way or another but it's always tough to hear of a friend's passing.. 

6 minutes ago, Plymouthy Adams said:

send me a bag of them acorns.......?

 

(PS   will need a mixture of left and right and front and rear acorns)

Soon as I find that oak tree.. ?

I drove a VW transporter for a long time so I got used to the slow lane. Braking ability is more important than keeping up with traffic and I did have disc brakes on the old bus. I'd recommend a disc brake conversion before anything else although I've read that 12" Chrysler Lockheed drum brakes are as plentiful as acorns under an oak tree and have enough braking ability for a Formula 1 racer.  I can't understand why modern vehicles don't use them. ?

16 hours ago, YukonJack said:

Can I see them too?

 

There isn't much to see but when I get back to my laptop I'll send them your way. I didn't mount a booster, just a GM master.

12 hours ago, kencombs said:

Even in the 70s/80s when body quality was at its lowest, Chryco used some great interior materials.  I had a '78 LeBaron with excellent red leather seats.

They do have excellent seats. Fine Corinthian leather!?

2 hours ago, RobertKB said:

Dubble Bubble

Uh-oh!!

Yank off the body, drop it on an S10 chassis, stuff in an LS and Bob's your uncle..

I remember spending what seemed like a week sitting in Friday rush hour traffic fleeing Dallas while earlier that day I was in fear for my life on the Expressway. I'm glad I don't live there or any other city. 

Sent some pics via PM.

I want the seats, to heck with playing chess..