Swapping a Dent 9" into a '68 F100

[motzingg]

I posted a thread a while back asking about the feasability of swapping a 9"

Thanks to everyone who responded and i'm pretty sure that i'm going to go dig one out of the boneyard in the next week or two here, few things i've had a hard time finding answers to:

Now i know i'm going to have to cut off the spring perches and reweld, i'm cool with that.

The questions i have:

#1) has this been covered somewhere with a good writeup? I cant find it anywhere.
#2) will i run into tire clearance issues going 2" wider on the rear (it really doesn't look like it) or does anything else hit?
#3) do the shock mounts move too? I'm guessing they do.
#4) can i use the dentside rear springs... my springs are shot. I know they are spaced out wider, but do the springs themselves fit in the hangars.

hmm... anything else i need to know about?

Its looking like 73-84 or so are the best years... is there a better choice such as 8.8 that would be closer to stock size or better for some other reason i've overlooked?


I don't give a damn about originality as long as the truck runs, drives, and looks roughly original, i just want a rear axle i can get on with the minimum amount of work and never have to worry about it failing.

[motzingg]

Hmm, no responses, no big deal, I was pretty much asking to be spoon-fed information that probably exists out there, or I could collect myself with a trip to the junkyard.


I've actually stumbled on a pretty good solution to the 'dog-leg' problem, for now, running a deeper rear wheel that looks pretty mean back there and corrects the spacing issue.

[mrtleavitt]

#1) I don't know
#2) Tire clearance will not be an issue unless you are running some wheels with a large offset. This swap will simply make the rear axle width match the front end width. Looks so much better if you ask me.
#3) You don't have to move the shock mounts but if it was me then I probably would. If you move them it will make for better geometry. (You probably won't notice any difference if you do or don't, but you will sleep better at night if you did it).
#4) Not sure if you can use the dentside rear springs. Depends if your truck has flex-o-matic springs or not. Actually I think the width of the dentsides are either 1/4 or 1/2 inch wider. So if that's the case then the only way to use the springs is to use the dentside perches also. I wouldn't recommend it if the leaf springs weren't a direct swap.

My brother did the swap. It worked out great. I don't think he moved the shock mounts. He bought new leaf spring pads and welded them on the housing. I was going to do it as well but I ended up doing an entire frame swap with a 1974.

I would stick with a 9" from a dentside so you have the same bolt pattern. Dentsides are still pretty easy to come across (at least in my neck of the woods).

[motzingg]

Excellent! That actually helps a lot.

Yeah I don't have a flex-o-matic, just regular perches, but my springs are badly warped, they were the original super low GVWR springs and have had a hard life.

I ended up going to a rear wheel with a lot of backspace, so i might not do any mods to the axle for now, but i still need to figure out what is amiss in my 3rd member, as well as do something about the springs, maybe find someone to re-arch them?