Narrowing 7.5 rear.

[w650gb500]

Good evening everyone. I picked up 2 Ranger rears to use in a project car we are building, but I have a question for you guys. The driveshaft is offset to the right side by 3-4” and I will need it to be centered or very close. I remember seeing someone using 2 short side tubes and axles to both shorten and center the rear ended. The person was doing it to an 8.8, but I can’t see any reason why it wouldn’t or shouldn’t work on the 7.5 rear. Has anyone done this? I apologize if it’s been covered before, but I searched and looked thru many pages with no luck.

There are 3 plugs in each side, which in the video, were drilled/ground out and then the axle tube removed from the center section. I looked at these 2 rears and it looks do-able. The short side is approx 3” shorter than the left(longer) side. I think I can get it close to centered if it actually works.

 

[snoranger]

Your idea will work fine... just make sure you take exact measurements.

 

[bobbywalter]

 

[dvdswan]

Welcome to the site.

 

[Danger_Ranger.308]

Jeep guys do the same for 1 ton axles to make them somewhat fit under a narrow chassis. That in combination with dually hubs and it will almost fit perfect in something that started with about a 56" wide set up. So I'm sure you could do the same with a 7.5, might as well weld the tubes when you put them back together while your there. Having said that, the inherent weakness of the 7.5 is the axles not the housing so your much more likely to break axle shafts if your getting wild enough on it to bend the tubes anyway.

Which begs the question, why spend that much effort on a 7.5? Do the same thing with the right 8.8 and you'll least have 31 spline axles with the added bonus of disc brakes

 

[don4331]

@w650gb500:

Shouldn't you be starting with what width of axle you want and then playing with tubes/axles from there? And will you be using leaf springs?

Rangers have 26-1/4, 27-1/4, 29-1/4 and 30-1/4" axles, so you can "play" with WMW from 53-1/2 to 58-1/2". If you are changing the suspension away from leaves, Aerostars, Mustangs and Crown Vics open up even more axle length options.​

And unless driveshaft is really short <15", u-joints should accommodate offset (suspension travel would be more than offset). If it is that short, my suggestion would be use CV joint(s) anyways.​

I haven't done it with a Ford axle, but with a Dana 30 for my 6x4; wanted hi pinion for driveshaft to clear front rear axle but didn't need axle to steer (and Jeep axle was a couple inches too wide anyways).

After drilling out the welds you still need a bunch of force to pop out the tube. I didn't have anything that provided that kind of force, safely. Therefore:

I cheated and cut up the differential housing on the axle I wanted the tubes from - removing the housing a piece at a time, it was much easier to control the removal of the material than trying to drilling out weld without damaging tube. It ruined that differential, but I was never doing to reuse it again anyways. The tube was nicely cleaned up on my wood lathe.​

On the other axle, I drilled out the welds right though the tubing (again I wasn't going to reuse that tube). I cut the tube off right at end of housing, then used reciprocating saw/dremel with right angle adapter to cut the tube still in the axle into 3 pieces which dropped out. (Horizontal mill would have been real nice)​

With the inside of the housing all nice and cleaned up (no rust or burrs), a little warming of the differential/cooling of the tube, it slid in with only moderate force required. A level on spring pads to ensure they went in straight.​

Then weld up the plugs (and it doesn't hurt to run a bead around the tubes).​

My welder wanted high nickel rods, not sure if it was required or not.​

Everything was cleaned to ensure nothing to get into bearings/gears (magnetic drain plug added).

 

[w650gb500]

Jeep guys do the same for 1 ton axles to make them somewhat fit under a narrow chassis. That in combination with dually hubs and it will almost fit perfect in something that started with about a 56" wide set up. So I'm sure you could do the same with a 7.5, might as well weld the tubes when you put them back together while your there. Having said that, the inherent weakness of the 7.5 is the axles not the housing so your much more likely to break axle shafts if your getting wild enough on it to bend the tubes anyway.

Which begs the question, why spend that much effort on a 7.5? Do the same thing with the right 8.8 and you'll least have 31 spline axles with the added bonus of disc brakes

We are building an MGB with a V-8 and we’re looking for an axle that would handle 250hp. The ranger 7.5 was mentioned as something that would be up to the task. I was able to grab 2 complete rears end-to-end for $80, so that is what I had planned to use. The overall width shouldn’t be an issue as I can play with that by using a different offset wheel. First things first, I need to get one rear cleaned up, unnecessary brackets removed and ready for modifying. I will take pix and document this whole adventure, good or bad, so my learning experience can be shared.