Ford 8.8 write up

[88mancheman]

Let me start with saying I don’t plan I’m doing a 8.8 swap I actually recently acquired a 8.25 with 4.10 in it :) but a buddy of mine on Instagram asked me for a write up on swapping an 8.8 into his Comanche as his 35 just took a dump and I wrote this up from memory of my last 8.8 swap I did for a friend of mine here locally and here’s what I had come up with, hopefully this can help someone who’s looking todo this swap or just looking for some more info

 

 

8.8 Swap:

Make sure to use a later model Ford Explorer or Mountier axle it’s rumored 97+ has 31-33spline axles and larger disk brakes

 

Also beware some explores had a majorly offset pinion yoke for some reason not sure why friend told me this when searching for axles in JY

 

Also a great way to switch to disk brakes in the rear

 

Stock axle width: about 60.5”

8.8 axle width: about 59.5”

Meaning need to run at least 1” wheel spacer to make truck look “correct” otherwise wheel will be tucked in 1” more into wheel well

 

Items needed:

Power washer

Degreaser

Brass Wire brush

Grinder

Cuttoff wheel for grinder

Handful of flap disks for grinder

Some sandpaper around 100-150 grit

Welder

New spring perches (stock mopar ones are best bang for buck IMO)

New shock mount tabs

New u bolts and u bolt tab

Longer brake lines

New proportioning valve setup as I’m not 10000% sure if the MJ’s one will put out enough pressure for the disk brakes, I know an xj one can just barley so maybe good to pull it from the explorer you get the axle from

 

* Start with putting axle on jackstands in a grassy area 1 on each axle tube and 1 on the pinion yoke to support axle off the grass, start with power washing then degrease and use a brass wire brush to clean axle if grime is bad then power wash again and let dry for 24hr

 

* Once it’s dry it’s nice to move it to a comfortable area on the jackstands todo the rest I prefer to set it up on a bench in my garage and set a piece of steel in front of the table so I don’t catch anything on fire (but anywhere is really fine just make sure your comfortable lol) bust out your grinder and some cutoff wheels or a plasma If you have one and hack the old mounts from the explorer off IE: shock mounts, spring perches, (if it’s newer axle coil buckets, Trac bar mount, sway bar end links) make it a bare axle

 

* Once you have a bare axle go ahead and bust out some flap

disks and cleanup any welds or bits of mounts that are left (personally I like to flap disk the entire tube to bare metal and some of the pumpkin aswell to make it look as “brand new” as possible as I like to paint the entire axle fresh once I’m done)

 

* Once the axle has been cleaned up go ahead and setup the axle nice and level and measure the top, make sure you draw a line across the centerline of the tube so your spring perches both sit straight then measure the width of your springs it should be around 42” pin to pin ( manual says 42” but I vaguely remember mine being a bit under 42” when I did my last axle swap so that’s why I say double check don’t just go by the book ;) every manche is a lil different) then go ahead and mark your width on your centerline and center your new spring perches on your mark, give em a few tack welds on each side just to keep em in place( at this point I like to stuff the axle under the truck and make sure the spring perches line up with the pins on the springs and that everything looks good before burning them in, if something looks off or doesn’t fit it’s not a huge deal to grind a tac weld or two to reposition it to make it perfect) if your lazy like me this is also a great time to measure up where to put the shock mounts use a shock and put a mount on it and see where it would go on the axle, marks a line of where the shock can sit

 

* Once everything looks good and is lined up good I pull the axle back into my garage and burn the new spring perches in, I give them a bit to cool then I grab the shock mounts and put them on that line you drew for the shock earlier, I like to set them as parallel to the axle as possible so they don’t hang up on rocks so I end up doing em in the back to upper side of the tube most of the time, i would recommend putting a tac weld on each shock mount and putting the axle under before burning in the shock mounts just to make sure they are straight and aren’t binding the shocks when attached( to be honest tho I just eye ball shock mounts and get it right 90% of the time but grinding off new mounts sucks so that’s why I say take your time and put it under before you burn them in) once it’s all good and straight pull it out one last time burn those shock mounts In and then let it cool for a little bit

 

* Once it’s all cool to the touch I lay down a drop cloth or some news paper and paint it, I own a construction company so I have access to industrial strength paints and end up painting all my axles with a heavy duty paint and primer meant for high temp, high abrasion, and high moisture areas but to be 100% honest I’ve used that rustoelm engine paint on a few sets of junkyard axles and it held up surprising well I would defiantly recommend you go that route as regular spray paints don’t hold up to the heat and scratches axles get

 

* Once he paint is dry stuff her under with new u bolts and u bolt plates, hookup some brake lines (I’ll leave that up to you as that’s kinda a write up in itself) stuff some adapters on the ends and bolt up your driveshaft and your good to go