There's no doubt that one of the most popular and most hyped rearends is the Ford 9-inch. As bulletproof as they come, it's become the go-to rear when it comes to a high-horsepower application, be it Ford, Chevy, or Mopar. As great as the 9-inch rearend might be, they do have a few drawbacks. For one, the housing is rather large when compared to their Chevy counterparts. For those of us with lowered trucks, that can be a very important consideration. There's nothing worse than ruining that perfect bed with a hump right in the middle of it so that big, round housing can articulate properly without crashing into the bed floor. And short of that, many times there's just no simple way around it. Enter the 8-inch Ford rear.
Like its larger Ford brethren, the 8-inch Ford rear is plenty stout, only in a slightly smaller package. Introduced in 1962 as a light-duty, smaller version of the 9-inch, it was continued on through 1980 in a myriad of applications. Take a look through your local junkyard and you're likely to turn up at least a handful of them.
Now don't get me wrong, there are times and places for a big 9-inch under that hauler where an 8-inch may not fit the bill (heck, my '52 F-1 has a 9-inch). But if you're packing a moderate powerplant, say under 400 horse, and are concerned with clearance issues out back, the 8-inch makes for a great rearend.
I've had an 8-inch rear set aside for a future project in my shop for a while now and thought it was high time to get it down to the guys at Currie Enterprises to get it rebuilt and ready to rock for whatever future project I run into. It was an interesting process and by the time we were done the only items from the stock rearend left were the housing, an axle, and the pinion support. It was definitely an eye-opener as to why Currie pushes their crate rearends and why, for most applications, it's a much more logical solution.
But for those who already have their hands on an existing rearend, a rebuild is a great alternative to chucking a perfectly good axle in exchange for a brand-new item. Keep in mind though that Currie produces everything from brand-new housings and axles to ring-and-pinions and various brake options. So be it a rebuild or a completely new, custom-built rearend Currie can handle it all for you.
Here's the 8-inch rear as it was when we pulled it out of the junkyard.
