Build me a 9 inch!

[CJ8Rockcrawler]

I just acquired a ford nine inch that I will be building up for use on my CJ. I'm looking for suggestions for how far I should go and what vendors you guys have had good experiences with. As it sits right now, I'm not positive on the gears, but the are somewhere around 3.00:1... The axles are 31 spline and the 3rd member case is a C7AW-E.

I run 35s right now and 4.10 gears with a powertrax no slip in the rear. I will be upgrading to at least 4.56s maybe even a little deeper when I build this axle. I'm thinking a detroit locker this time, but I am open to suggestions. I'm also open to suggestions on whether to keep the drum brakes (they are the larger 11" units) or to convert to disc brakes. Stock axles vs. aftermarket. Other lockers?

Use the Jeep mostly for rockcrawling and have a 60:1 crawl ratio right now and will be over 120:1 once I get my new NP 435 tranny swapped in. I don't see myself ever going over 40" tires (if they get around to releasing them). I think 38.5 or 39.5s will do just fine for my wheeling.

So have at it guys... build me a 9 inch... I'm interested in everything from the low buck buildup all the way up to the sky is the limit. I don't mind spending the money if I need it as I tend to overbuild things, but I don't want to be building the ultimate 9 inch when I don't really need it.

 

[Panther]

Just get the 3rd member with a detriot and gears to your liking and run it. With 35s, drums are fine but if you go 38s discs might be good. If it's an EB 9" the shafts are 28, full size 9" is 31 and has more of a "truss" to support the pumkin. The EB trac width is about 58" and full size f150/bronco about 64". I would bother with a high pinion and if you want, upgrade to 35 spline shafts.

 

[mulescj8]

9" build

Detroit locker,High pinion,35 spline axleshafts,if your also going to swap the front and go with 39.5s then go 4" wider than the stock wide track,or leave it full width,either way with 39.5s your going to need to be a lot wider in the front to be able to turn it.-BRAKES-not but one way to go-Disk! all the way around,easier to work on,stops better and quicker than drums hands down!-JC

 

[BIG_Mark]

31 Spline (to keep costs down) axles
Detroit Locker
Disk brakes.

If you want 35 spline be prepared to pay $135 each.
However a Detroit locker for 35 spline axles costs about $50 bucks less than one for a 31 spline.
31 spline axles run around $75. each.