Nelkor

Do you recall what year ford the tie rod ends fit? The ones I bought are 48 to 50 year models. Thank you.

Thanks for your reply. The dropped tie rod ends I found are smaller diameter then the taper on the. steering arms. Therefore they don’t seat well. I bought some inserts from sky off road designs that take the taper down in diameter to fit ford tie rod ends but the new tie rod ends still don’t fit snug.

Oil soup, did you use any knuckle inserts for the ford drop tie rods? If so where did you source them? Thanks.

Thanks guys for all the pics and suggestions. Appreciate you taking time to post and include the pics. This helps tremendously and will greatly shorten my build out time.

Oil Soup - I'm just now returning to my project. I see my current drag link will not clear the new spring position. Therefore I need to make a solution. You mentioned you used a ford tie rod for a new drag link. Do you mind letting me know what model and year you used? Also do you have any pictures of the end result? I really appreciate it. Kory

Thanks again for the feedback. By the way, did you install the tie rod blocks from Sid. I ordered them, but he wasn't sure I would need them.

I agree completely. Sid is great to work with and I highly recommend him to anyone. One more question: Are you still running the original flathead? I eventually want to install a 318 and want to make sure I won't run into a clearance issue due to weight. Again, appreciate your thoughts and will get picks posted once it's done.

Thanks for the feedback. I had planned to get new springs and have the eyes reversed, but didn't want to pull the trigger until I learned from others whether that would be too much. Sounds like I should be fine. Thanks again for taking time to post.

I just received my dropped axle from Sid's. He dropped it 3". Before I modify the springs (specifically reversing the direction of the eye) I wanted to see if anyone has any thoughts on the maximum drop I can achieve. I'm running the original size tires. I appreciate your thoughts.

I really appreciate the feedback. I recently rebuilt the 218, but will likely go with the 3.73 based on the suggestions. One other question, did anyone upgrade/change the brake master cylinder following the axle swap? Was thinking I may need or want to do that. Appreciate y'all's thought on that as well. Thanks again this gets me much further down the road on my project.

I'm looking at swapping out original rear axle assembly on my 1950 B-2 with a Ford Ranger 8.8 Axle assembly with 10" drum brakes. I have the original flathead motor, but installed a t-5 transmission. Anyone have similar experience? If so any suggestions on things to consider? thank you for your thoughts.

Thank you everyone for your thoughts and reply.

Hey guys, I'm in the process of installing the engine and transmission back in my 50 dodge pick-up. I heard that I need a special tool to align the transmission bell housing to the back of the engine block. Is this correct? I don't understand why, because the block is a machined flat, and so is the bellhousing. Anyway, I heard I need to shim the bellhousing one way or the other to get the transmission main shaft to go straight into the pilot bushing. I appreciate any thoughts on this issue?

Don, thank you for the pic. Do you have a way to contact Richie? I would like to see if I may get a little more info, because that looks like a good alternative. Thank you for your feedback.