'78 F150 9" in a Ranger?

[Quasi242]

First of all, this is a cross post from the non ranger axle forum. I just figured that those of you in the prerunner forum might be able to help as well.

I am looking a buying a 1978 f150 9" to use on my 2000 Ranger prerunner build. After my research I am a bit confused about the dimensions. The '73-'90 F150 axles are reported to measure 58.75" housing flange to flange. The '78 F150 supposedly had a track width of 79.3". I have not found a flange to flange dimension for the 2000 Ranger 8.8, but I believe the width is is 58.25" wheel mount surface to wheel mount surface (Explorer 8.8 is 59.75" WMS to WMS and the Ranger 8.8 is 1.50" shorter than the Explorer axle).

I am running the Dixon Brothers long travel kit on the front of my Ranger. This kit extends the front track width by 4.5" per side or 9" overall. As such, to match the new front track width, my rear axle will need to be 58.25" + 9.00"=67.25" wheel mount surface to wheel mount surface. Allowing a 5" width allowance for the average difference between a housing flange to flange measurement and a axle flange to flange measurement, the 78' F150 9" axle should be roughly 63.75" wide axle flange to axle flange. If my math is correct, this would leave approximately 3.50" for the brake system hardware (I don't know how much width needs to be allowed for the brake setup).

My current front track width is approximately 78" from outside tire surface to outside tire surface. I am running 33X10.50 BFG Mud Terrains on 15" wheels with 4.5" back spacing.

I believe that the axles will need to be re-drilled to 5 on 4.5, and I will need to add an aftermarket ring gear to keep my ABS and other OBDII sensors running.

Based on this, I think that this axle will work for my application. Am I missing anything? Your help would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to buy and build an axle and then find that I missed something critical.