I think I may have just scored a nine inch for my maverick. My buddy had this old van in the back yard with a nine inch diff. Yesterday I measure it from flange to flange on the inside it measured 56 inch which is about the same as my mav. i am not sure but the wheel pattern looks as if it is the same car style also not the larger truck.
it is prolly 5x5 lug pattern, i dont think it will fit shock mounts are on the housing....but not sure whats the with from perch to perch?
I am running a 9" from a '71(ish) Econoline Van. It doesn't appear to have been shortened or altered. The only way I know what the rear was out of was when I went to put new shoes on it. The ONLY ones to match the dimensions were from that year(s) Econline. In summary, you 'might' be okay.
I think that the early E series used car underpinnings. My uncle's 64 is ALL Falcon underneath, and is totally stock. Uses 5x4.5 lugs. The 'new' Econolines, based on truck parts didn't come around until around 71... Those would have truck lug pattern. They got much larger with that design change. The width sounds right to me, you would surely have to relocate the spring pads. Got to get the correct pinion angle too. The springs may be wider on the E, if so, use your 8" pads or get a smaller set. Good score. Dave Edit: Now that I think about it, the "new" larger E-series came out in 69. If that rear is narrow enough to fit, you could probably just throw in a set of car axles to get the lug pattern right. They were all 28 spline on the E100s iirc. The Mav 28 splines might just be the right length straight out of the 8" rear. That would be nice. It still might require a different bearing though. Easy nuff. Then again, maybe the truck bolt pattern wasn't used until later in the model years... The earliest E100 I have worked on would have been very late 70s, and it was truck lug.
We puuled the van out of the weeds yesterday and took the wheels off. I was pretty exstatic the overall width was correct and it indeed was a 9 inch with a 3L50 tag. Relocating the spring purch will not be a problem although pinion angle will have to be reasearched. /phone call to calvert racing/ This weekend I will take wheel pattern measurement, pull the drums and spray the u-bolts with some penetrating oil. Going from a 3.00 ratio w/28 inch tire to 3.50 w/26 inch tire
I always thought the truck based Econoline came out in '78. I have a '78 E150 with a 9 inch, but the "chunk" is off center, longer axel on the passenger side. I can't say that I've ever seen a '69-'77 Econoline, just very early ones. All of the 60's Econolines I have looked at in the junkyards have had 200 6 cylinders, same as a car. That's extreamly cool that the rearend is the correct length. I'll have to keep an eye out while junkyarding.
Man, I am jealous. That is a great find! 3.50 with LS and 9", that was a well equipped van. From 61-68 they used mainly Falcon parts and that tiny little modular rear is mostly what you find under them. I know they could be had with stronger parts, but that was most common. The only improvement over the other wimpy Falcon parts was the fact that they were 5 lug, rather than 4 like the cars. On the perches and angle, I would just mimic everything on your stock 8" and be done with it. Let us know the year of the van and all. That way we can keep our eyes open in our neighborhoods. Thanks Dave
69-77 are what I would call mid-size. Not as small as before, but definately on the way to becoming what we know today. It wouldn't surprise me if they used car stuff after some thought. I am not sure about that year as being the correct cut-off for the 'mid' van. I think they grew to today's size on or about 1975 model year. I have seen 75s and they are big as modern vans, just with round headlights. Trivia on your post: Econolines didn't get a V8 until 69. Even then it was only a 302. The birth of the big vans is where they got even bigger v8s. More trivia: Mail vans, milk vans, and ice cream trucks from the 60s-70s are based on a small Ford van frame and use a VERY narrow 9" rear. The narrowest to come from the factory... low 50-something inches wide. Dave
I'm an old guy with a bad memory, but V8's in E Vans started in the mid 60's not '69. The first gen e-van did get a v8 and the 250. Base motor was the 144 (61-63), then 170 and 200. They all had standard Ford 5 lugs. With the 250 and 289 they started getting the 9". I built a '62 and swapped a 289 in with a 65 X-member (see Petersen's Complete book of engine swaps). The earlier 6 cyl E-Van had separate side mounts while the 65-67 had a drop out x member.
Those are good low budget narrowed rearends, just narrow the long side to match the short and get new axles. Drag guys are looking for them all the time.
