Narrowing a ford 9"

Funny how that happens, we both have diametrically opposite views on the same car type.

 

I was shocked at how much steering input was required just to enter US 44 from the Tulsa airport ramp; I kept turning the wheel and very little was happening compared to my 250,00 mile Focus. That car was awesome, but we finally wore it out, and donated to our local Public broadcaster.

 

I just wanted to give an update on this. You guys convinced me. I shortened both sides to keep the pinion centered. And I'm so happy I did. Someone on here had a comment that was something along the lines of, "yeah it will probably work but it will look like a mistake." That was good enough for me. My friend also said, "Your going to all this work. Don't half ass it, full ass it!" It actually wasn't that hard. I grinded off the welds between the axle tubes and the axle housing, then pounded the tubes 1 3/4" further into the housing by picking the whole rear end up and dropping it against the ground, re-welded the tubes, cut the lower control arm mounts off the tubes, moved them over 1 3/4" each, and then I had to make some adjustments to the upper control arm mounts. The upper control arm mounts were the hardest part because the angle changed. I solved that by slotting 2 of the bolt holes to get the angle I wanted and then welding a washer over the slots to get the hole where I wanted. I painted everything with POR-15 and installed new energy suspension poly urethane bushings. Now I can have my 12" wide 1970's wheels and they don't rub anywhere even when I let all the air out of my rear air bags!

 

If it's bad, but it works, it's not bad....