Ford 9" in a 68 f250

[Bvh56]

I'm looking to put a 9" into my 68 f250 and replace the Dana 60 so I can change the rear ratio to a low 3 something. Did they put a 9" in 250 with the 8 lug bolt pattern? All I find is the Dana 60.

[ultraranger]

First production and installation of the Ford 9-inch was in 1957 in the passenger cars and trucks. I've never seen a 9-inch with anything other than 5-lugs. There were various 9-inch housing widths and drum widths and some of the passenger cars came with factory rear discs. Passenger car lug spacing was 4.5" or 5". The truck lug spacing was 5.5" through 1996, with the exception of the '80-'83 F-100s. They also had the passenger car 4.5" lug spacing.

Ford 9-inch rear end production ceased in the cars by the end of 1980. Ford truck 9-inch production ceased by the end of 1985, which was the end of all 9-inch rear end production by Ford.

I'm not certain if there is enough room on the 9-inch axle flange to machine it for 3 additional lugs to make it an 8-lug configuration (??). You would just have to check/measure. If there isn't, you would have two choices; run 8-lugs on the front and 5 on the rear. This means you would have to get 5-lug wheels for the rear and you would need 2 spare tires for the two different lug patterns.

The second option, if you installed the 9-inch rear, would be to also swap out the 8-lug front suspension to a 5-lug front suspension so that the lug pattern front & rear would match.

[guhfluh]

I don't think the hub flange on the axle is large enough OD for the 8x6.5 pattern. What you may be able to do is get new custom axle shafts from someone like Strange or Currie that are drilled for the correct pattern and then have your drums machined/drilled to match. I'm not certain, but I believe the stock Ford is lug centric wheels, so the center bore shouldn't matter, but if it does and the wheels are hub-centric, then they would need to make the axle hub the correct OD and have your drums machined there to match as well.

It may be too expensive a proposition, depending on machining costs and the costs of the custom axles, but its also something I have thought about looking into myself, since a 2.7x or 3.0x rear gear would be nice on the highway with my T-18 4 speed.

[flyboy2610]

You can get 3.54 gears for the Dana 60.

From Wikipedia:
Dana 61

A variation of the Dana 60 known as a Dana 61 was made to accommodate gear ratios that allowed for better fuel mileage. This was done as a direct result of the 1973 oil crisis. A 3.07:1 gear ratio was common for these axles and unachievable in a regular Dana 60. To allow for the different gearing, the Dana 61 had a greater pinion offset. This offset meant that a different carrier and a different ring and pinion had to be used. The Dana 61 was made in semi-float and full-float axles for select 4×2 Ford ¾-ton and 1 Ton Pickups and Vans from 1974 to 1987. A Dana 61 front axle was selectively used in Dodge 4×4 ¾-ton and 1 Ton pickups from 1987 to 1993. Although 3.00:1 and 3.07:1 gear sets are possible from a Dana 61, lower gear sets (4.56:1 on down) are not.

[Bvh56]

All great information thanks . Anyone know if the 5 lug rotors with fit on the 8 lug spindles ?

[guhfluh]

No. Not without custom bearings. With custom sized bearings, there may still be a spacing issue, but I don't know for sure. I've never seen one done.

[Bvh56]

Guess ill start looking for a Dana 61

[guhfluh]

Problem with the Dana 61 is lack of parts availability. From what I've heard, brake parts are very hard to find. It may not be true, but its something I'd look into.