Upgrading the 8.8 axle

[BlueGerbil]

Hi,
I´m just planning a swap of a Ford 8.8 axle from an Explorer to my Jeep Cherokee. Axles like the Ford 9 or Dana 60 are quite expensive over here in Germany and the 8.8 fits the bill perfectly (31 splines, same wheels like my XJ, almost the same width, disc brakes).

What upgrades are there for the 8.8? I´ll be getting 4.56 or 4.88 gears, a Detroit Locker or a Electrac Locker and a Crane diff cover (when it will be available) - is there any possilbilty to upgrade the axle shaftes or anything?

Any help would be great,
thanks!


Jan

 

[Positive Vibes]

Your axle shafts should be fine. You covered all the other upgrades I could think of. What size tire you plan on running?

 

[CodePoet]

The plug welds sometimes let go letting the tubes spin. Do a search you just need to burn in some more adaquate welds from what i understand.

Also, i've HEARD (never seen it) that a diff cover from an new IRS explorer is alot stronger than the cover on the solid axle 8.8's. NOT saying that's a fact as i've never personally seen it but it may be something for someone else to jump in and help out I would think that the aftermarket cover you listed would be better most likely...

 

[nissanboy]

tons of stuff to do to a 8.8...

Make is a semi floater by adding 9" torino ends to it...
After that you can upgrade to higher spline counts....
After that why not get chromoly shafts....
You can shave the bottom a bit to gain some clearance...
You can get all kinds of covers and stuff for it...

 

[unclemeat]

Extend the breather line. You can get a large capacity diff cover from therangerstation.com It wont fit a stock explorer because of the sway bar.

 

[rookieshooter]

Here is mine with some upgrades. 8.8 IRS aluminum diff cover with a fabricated guard that is bolted to those ears. Some people grind them off. I got this one on Ebay for $25.oo Those fins help with heat dissaption. Added shock mounts and made sure they did not hang down too low. Added spring mounts on top so axel is under springs. Since pic was taken both diff cover and diff guard has been powder coated. Diff silver and diff guard red. I may or may not run all 6 shocks. There may be days that I just run the outboard shocks. Going to experiment with different leaf packs.

Added axel truss to stop flexing of tubes to help stop premature bearing failure. You can see that one of the diagonal braces is welded to the tube carrier connection. Hope that this will help stop tube spinning. And that breather will be extended like unclemeat said.

This is where the other end of truss is welded.

 

[Jefe]

Other 8.8 covers to consider:
SVO (or other) axle girdle which helps reinforce the housing and support the carrier bearings
or
BTF (Blue torch fab) 1/4" cover

EDIT: the Electrac would prevent you from running any sort of axle cover, and you'd have to modify a rock ring to fit.

There are also many choices for axle upgrades.
I got my alloy axles from Dutchman Motorsports

 

[greenbeer]

The plug welds sometimes let go letting the tubes spin. Do a search you just need to burn in some more adaquate welds from what i understand.

What years do this? I was just talking about this today with a guy who's putting my '98 8.8 in his YJ. I had never heard of this till today!

 

[Creager]

What years do this? I was just talking about this today with a guy who's putting my '98 8.8 in his YJ. I had never heard of this till today!

all 8.8's are known to do this. Explorers/rangers/BII's wont have this problemm, unless you swap towards something like a 351 or a highpowered 302. I have heard the issue is directed from ford being a little conservative. Ford uses only 3 pins to hold the axle tubes to the center section. To help you see the contrast, a regular Dana 44 has 8 of these pins.

But again its a non-issue unless you are going big horsepower ~250+... probably more then that... not sure

 

[greenbeer]

I have heard the issue is directed from ford being a little conservative. Ford uses only 3 pins to hold the axle tubes to the center section. To help you see the contrast, a regular Dana 44 has 8 of these pins.

That's horrible. Kinda makes me think twice about buying the blower for my '01. Although it is AWD so maybe some of the load will be taken off the 8.8.
Some times I don't understand Ford. They put a burly 31 spline 8.8 inch diff under a midsized SUV, (same as the one under some F-150 and Expeditions) but finish it off half ass with three pins holding the tubes in.

 

[CodePoet]

Buddy of mine's plug welds came out and he had a stock sohc. He could litterally pull the welds, or what was left of them, out with his fingers

 

[034x4]

I got a set of superior shafts from dutchman with a custom 6-lug flange for ~250 shipped.

 

[bmxking5]

One other thing that can be done is the c-clip eliminator. C-Clips are one of the other down sides to the 8.8, and by getting rid of them, it will be stronger.

 

[greenbeer]

Does the 8.8 in say a Mustang, Crown Vic, or Towncar have this same problem?

 

[Rick]

I don't want to jinx myself here, but I've been running the 8.8 HARD for 13 years and have never spun a tube. I have RIPPED the spring over axle perches out of the axle, but never damaged the plug welds.

 

[nissanboy]

Do not run c-clip eliminators offroad... they are not designed for big sideloads assiciated with offroading and will fail.

 

[rookieshooter]

Do not run c-clip eliminators offroad... they are not designed for big sideloads assiciated with offroading and will fail.

I was wondering about that. Because Moser who sell the c-clip eliminators say for drag racing only. I quess because they can't take the sideloads like you say. But drag racing is as you know straight line.

 

[Creager]

Does the 8.8 in say a Mustang, Crown Vic, or Towncar have this same problem?

I'm almost certin that all solid axle 8.8s came this way... the mustang has the 28 spline shaft, less rolling mass, probably less likley to spin a tube in that car.

Like what rick said, it takes YEARS of abuse, and you will probably never see it break. If you are worried then try trussing up your axle like rookieshooter did, that will hold more then 8 pins ever will.

The c-clips arrent a weak point themselves; they are 1/4 thick steel, they arrent breaking. Its the design of c-clip differential that makes it weak; the fact if the axle shaft itself breaks, the wheel is free to dislodge itself from the car. In reality, a c-clip axle has less moving parts compared to an axle with hub-bearings.

 

[Positive Vibes]

Buddy of mine's plug welds came out and he had a stock sohc. He could litterally pull the welds, or what was left of them, out with his fingers

But this doesn't happen very much correct? I mean I don't recall reading any posts about this and there are a lot of hard core wheelers on this site.

 

[Jefe]

But this doesn't happen very much correct? I mean I don't recall reading any posts about this and there are a lot of hard core wheelers on this site.

It only happens to the Jeepers Not sure if it really does happen to them more, or if its just a rumor that has grown out of proportion on the Jeep sites.