Anyone on here done this? I have 4 links to put an older solid axle from a supra in my corolla but would rather not blow it up all the time. Any tips/trick/pointers/advice etc that anyone can throw my way? Its for an 86 corolla with an f20c, hoping to make mid 600's at the wheels.

I was planning on trying to find a rearend out of an explorer with lsd and just cut it down to the length I need, and transfer my mounts over to it. I'm a proficient welder and know I can do it right but am also not against just paying someone to do it either as there are many other things I could be working on at the moment. Any shops that people would recommend to me? would need it cut to length, mounts transferred over and new axles ordered.


Thanks!

 

its good to see your working on this thing now, cant wait till its running

 

blocks back from the machine shop, waiting on the bottom end balancing to be done and it can get assembled. hopefully be driving soon!

 

How much do you need to narrow it? The passanger side axle is about 3" shorter than the driver side. You can narrow the driver side by 3" and use another passenger side axle. This is probably the cheapest way to narrow an 8.8". The pinion on an 8.8" is also about 2.5" offset to the passenger side, so narrowing 3" off the driver side will center the pinion better.

 

I'm not sure what shops are near you but look for a shop that services semi truck drivelines or a shop that makes drive shafts. There is one near my house that puts the whole rearend in a big a$$ lathe and cuts them that way. The cuts are nice and square, and they weld the ends back on in the lathe too.

Mike

 

Ive seen guys mount the rear end in the vehicle so the center section is lined up. Measure where they want the axles to be and mark it. Remove from vehicle, cut with a chop saw and use 4 magnetic welding squares to hold the end straight to the axle. MIG weld and be done with it. It seems ghetto but I know guys that run 9's with that method.

 

What car did the 8.8 come out of? I got mine from a 95 Exlporer XLT so I ended up switching out the housing ends. I'll have to measure the total I had it narrowed, but basically it's narrowed to the same width +/- 1/4" as the GTS AE86 rear end. I bought the end housing from Currie Enterprises. I had a local shop owner do the narrowing and install of the housing ends. There are a couple ways you can do it. Center the pinion (need to cut from both sides), center the housing (still cut from both sides, but much less from the passanger side I think), have it cut so both axles are equal length, or narrow the driver-side tube to the same width as the passanger side. I think this makes it an inch or two wider than the GTS rear end. What brakes are you planning on running?

http://forums.club4ag.com/zerothread?id=12379

Check that thread out. It has some helpful info.

 

Moser will do it for around $120, I stripped down the mustang 8.8 for my starlet and it was short enough for fedex to take it regular delivery. Cost like $25 for me to ship it.

Or search for 8.8 alignment bushings, there is a few shops that sell everything needed to do it yourself (mostly rock crawler guys) but it will end up being about 3 times as much as just having moser do it.

 

Just as a reference, my rear end from end housing to end housing is 50 1/4" wide.

 

looked on moser's site and they say 125 which I think is fair, I'd like to try and find somone local tho if I can just to save the hassle on shipping etc. I still may just do it myself, i have a big lathe at work i could use to square up the ends if I wanted to.

Another question while I'm on the 8.8 talk, do 97 or newer explorers have c-clip axles? And instead of buying eliminators can I just buy new axle ends and weld on something else.


Thanks

 

Pretty sure all 8.8's have c-clips. You can get 9" ends for them though.
The explore will have the big pin 31 spline limited slip though.
Never have been able to find out for sure, but I think disk brakes will sub for positive axle retention. I modded some 1st gen rx7 rear disks and calipers to mine.

 

Make sure whoever does it, uses a jig to line everything back up. Also, as stated, 9" ends are a good idea since you'll have the end chopped off anyways. They're much stronger, and eliminate the c-clips.

 

Just had my housing shortened last month. I went with late big ford housing ends.
Here are a couple pics with the alignment bar and when we were done:








Assembled, ready to go under the car: