rear in your Fords? I've got a 1976 F-100 4x4 w/the 3" wide springs and I'm wondering which rear to put in it. I keep spitting the pinion out the front of the case on my 9". I'm running 4.56 gears and from what I hear that is a common ratio for the 14 bolt. Appreciate any help. Thanks.

I think it would be OK. I've heard of alot of people doing it. The only bad thing is the 8 bolt hole pattern won't work with your 5 bolt hole wheels. Thats hard to beleve your breaking a 9" rearend. I ran a 9" for years and never broke anything.

OK You'll have to move the spring perches some to fit the ford spring spacing but that pretty easy. then when you re weld them on you can put the pinion at a better angle to help aid you when your pulling.
I've seen some of the stock trucks here run with there pinions pointing at the ground more so when it's pulling they come to more straight position then tipped up position.
that's if you have active springs .. if your allowed to block the rear then just make it to line up with the transfer case.

ShaZam

And yes the 4.56 gears are good gears to use in pulling.

The pinion should be parallel with the ground while going down the track. Not only to lube the front bearing. But also because the torque applied will be at a right angle from the pinion angle down to ground. If you look at the rearend from the side, a right angle with pinion centerline being the horizontal plane of the right angle, the vertical being the center of the axle throught the wheel,tire, and to the ground. In my opinion the base horizontal plane should be around say -10 degrees to +10degrees depending on your truck's characteristic's. This will help put the most force down to the ground if you need or want any more.

I was out at the U-Pull it junkyard the other day and found a 14 bolt in a 78 1 ton camper special Dually (w / no bed - cab & chassis ) looked all original, data sheet in glovebox said it had 4.56 gears. I took a rough measurement, backing plate to backing plate was around 44" and that's too narrow to fit between my springs. Maybe one from something else is wider? I could remove the pinion & carrier from the 4.56 one and put it in a wider one. They get $75.00 for a 1 ton rear complete. Didn't ask about the pinion & carrier (guess it wouldn't be too much).BTW I am allowed to run Blocked suspension in my class but have to have a minimum of 3 spring leaves. Here's a pic. of my "BLOWN" 9".

Can't you find a Dana 60 or 70 at that junk yard? Or do you have your heart set on a 14 bolt? I think a d60 would be easier to install just because of the spring pearches. What are you going to do about two different bolt patterns?

Axles are to small in a D60 rear to even think about putting that in there. Most of the guys around here pull the D60's out and upgrade too a D70 or a Corp.

bolt patterns are no problem.I'll use 15 x 10 w/5 on 5-1/2 on front and 15 x 10 w / 8 lugs on the rear. (summit has the 15" 8 lug steel wheels ( US Wheel ) for 43.88 ea.)I don't drive the truck on the street, just pulls. I'm thinking 14 bolt because they are easier to find w/4.56 gears and are cheaper than a Dana 70. The Dana 60 is too weak in my opinion.

The 14 bolt also had the extra pinion bearing similar to that of a 9". It seems to hold up better than a 60 but I don't know about the 70.

I had a chance a while back to get a 14 bolt(after I had broke my D60) for $50. Thinking the Dana 60 was the toughest thing going, I didn't get it. Got another Dana 60.

So what do y'all think about the Ford/Sterling 10.25 axle? I made 7 passes on mine last year with no problems. (but I was only making 500ish hp) I think this year will be the test as I'll be making alot more hp.

I was also thinking about the Sterling rears but haven't been able to find out what the "common" factory ratios are. They seem to be a little pricey for my budget but if they came w/4.56 they might be worth a few more bucks. I guess I'll have to go back to "E- Z Pull and Save" and crawl around under some trucks and take some accurate measurments.

From what I've found, 3.73 and 4.11's are common. Unless you can find one out of a 1 ton. One nice thing I was told about the 10.25's is that you don't have to change the carrier with a gear change. I kept the oem carrier and installed 4.56 gears (mine came with 3.73's) then installed a "Lincoln" locker. So far it has held up.