Choosing a Ford 9″ Rear Differential


Hot rodders and race car builders both like to use the Ford 9″ rear end. With its proven durability and a lot of support from other people, you can get a bulletproof rear end by choosing the right parts for your needs. It doesn’t matter if you get a custom rear end or build your own at home. Making sure all the parts inside your 3rd member work together is very important.
Choosing a Ford 9″ Rear Differential
3rd Member: Carrier Housing: The carrier housing is what makes the 3rd member so important. For light trucks and cars, Ford started making these in 1957. They were used then. Since they haven’t been made by Ford since 1986, finding good, safe housing has become very difficult. There are a few things to think about when you choose the carrier housing: In terms of bearing size, the 3.062″ diameter bearing caps are the most common size out there. A spool or differential with 28 or 31 spline teeth can be used, but it doesn’t have to. Some vendors also make a carrier with bearing caps that are 3.25″ wide. In high-power applications like drag racing, these carriers are usually used instead of other types of carriers. With the bigger bearing caps, a typical 28 or 31 spline spool or differential can’t be used because these are meant for bigger 35 to 40 spline applications.
Cast iron and aluminum are both materials that can be used for the same thing. The aluminum case weighs 20 pounds less than the iron one, and it’s about the same in strength. Doing away with 20 pounds of weight isn’t cheap, but if you want to do it quickly, this is an easy and cheap way.
In terms of the Cast Iron Housing with the 3.062″ bearing diameter. As long as you want us to use a different case for your 3rd member.
To build 3rd members, only use the Daytona style pinion support, which has a bigger inner bearing and better oil passages to keep the parts clean. It’s better than the Ford parts that come with the car.
Pinion supports can be made of Cast Iron or Lightweight Aluminum. Make sure you get new bolts if you’re building your third member at home. Nuts that came with the car were too long, and they won’t be able to properly lock into place on the threads of the pinion’s wheel.
You should do your research to figure out which gearing is best for your needs. There are a lot of calculators online that can help you figure out the right gear ratio for your car.
One of the many things is to make the Ring Gear Lightning, 5.43-ring gear: 2.6 pounds of material is removed from it. This does not weaken it in any way. The gear ratio is what determines how much weight is taken out of the car. Due to the way rings and pinions are made, a 6.33 gear will lose more material than a 4.11 gear because of how they are made. The diameter of the pinion gear gets smaller as the gear ratios go up. This makes the ring gear thicker. This is what happens if you use a dirt track car. If you use the lightened spool to cut down on rotational weight, the lightened ring gear will help you turn the wheels faster.
Every built third member has new bearings and seals all over. It’s important to use new bearings and seals if you are building your 3rd member at home. If you’re getting a new steel or aluminum case with 3.062″ bearings. Most kits also come with the Daytona-style pinion bearing, gear paint to check the pattern, and the pinion shims, which are used to make sure the pinion is in the right place. There are hot rod and race techs who can help you figure out what bearing sizes you need, or which rebuild kit to buy. Bearing sizes can be hard to figure out when you’re rebuilding a Ford case and using the original carrier.
It’s best not to use a factory-made crush sleeve when setting up the pinion. It would be better if you bought a Solid Pinion Bearing Spacer Kit with Shims. Crush sleeves can be bad because if you ever drop a driveshaft, the gears in the back end can get broken. Every third member we make is made with a solid spacer, like a piece of wood or metal. This is cheap insurance that your rear end will be safe when a crushed sleeve would have caused it to die.
To build a Ford 9″ third member in your shop, you might need some important tools. An Assembly Stand will make putting the third member together with a piece of cake. The great information source is on the Richmond Gear Install DVD. It’s good for the Ford 9″ rear.
The Ford 9 Inch Econo Ring & Pinion Set-Up Tool Kit, comes with the tools you need to lock the pinion in place and set the correct gear backlash. Pick out the parts that you want.
One of the most important things for the rear end to last a long time is to make sure it gets the right amount of oil. Lubrication Engineers SAE 140W Gear Oil, should be used for racing and extreme applications, and the 90W Gear Oil should be used on the street and in everyday cars.
For race applications, a full 4 quarts of oil must be used, or the pinion will break. Unless the rear end housing has a fill plug on top, the factory fill plug will start to overflow before the full four quarts are in.
You can also use this gear lube to help you put together the third member. In the first few miles, there should be no metal-on-metal contact. It’s thick and stays on the bearing surfaces to make sure that doesn’t happen.