http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?t=12584 i already asked,.......some people say you can swap just the axles and some say you cant....i went and bought an 8 inch from a granada and i am fixing it up to put in the maverick
and i also notice you are in phoenix...i live in tucson and i am considering being the state representative for MCCI.......... maverick comet club..... email me if you are interested in having an Arizona Maverick club and what not stmanser@cox.net and if you have freinds with mavs or comets....have them email as well
No they are different as far as Maverick rears are concerned.The axle bearings on the 4-lug 8" are smaller than those on the 5-lug.The 4 bolt pattern that holds the axles to the housing are different too.And the 4-lug rear is actually a bit wider than the 5-lug because the 4-lug brakes are smaller(both in width and diameter)but the track is still the same(I think).Good news is that a 5-lug 8" will bolt in the same spot as the old 4-lug 8";the springpads are the same as are the u-bolts.Have fun,don't do like I did and try to swap axles & brakes 'cause it don't work!
I recently swapped out my 4 lug rear for a 5 lug rear. The swap was pretty easy. We removed and installed both rear ends in about 6 hours, and that was working pretty slow. In doing the swap, I noticed that brakes on the 5 lug rear were substantially larger than the brakes on the 4 lug rear. This makes me think that the axles really are different sizes as many people say they are, but I cannot say for sure because I didn't even try to pull the axles out of it. My advice to anyone wanting to do the 5 lug conversion is to just swap out the entire rear end.
I have seen conflicting reports on this subject. There were several from another forum who claimed they swapped out the axles and others that disputed it. I am going to a Maverick junkyard in a few weeks. I will just look for a 5 lug. I find it odd that Ford would make two variations of these considering how they try to use similar parts on various cars and models. don
This was the first project I did on my 70 Maverick.I wasted a lot of money and energy trying to do the swap and finally gave up and bought a complete 8" rear for $100.I bought some 5 lug axles of E-bay,the guy swore up and down they would just swap right out.I pulled the axles(4-lug)put the 5 lug up and saw the bearings were different.Tried to find bearings that fit the shaft size and OD.Dead end.Backing plates had a different bolt pattern for the bearing retainer.Brake drums were small,it just got to overwhelming for me.Swapping the whole rear was was so much easier.That is what I recommend.
mavman427: In doing the swap, I noticed that brakes on the 5 lug rear were substantially larger than the brakes on the 4 lug rear. is there a lot of increased braking in the rear....ie...holding the rear wheels better for a good high rpm launch at the light...im usre there would be since the brake and drums are considerably larger.....
actually simon i think you want better braking on the front end. i loosen up the rear brakes as much as possible in order to do a good burnout. and it allows the car to leave quicker. my opinion.
Well, I also converted over to power front discs at the same time I swapped rear ends. Prior to that I had manual 4-wheel drums, so there is a monstrous difference in how the brakes feel and act now.
i have thought about the power brakes...but i cant find a good donor car....and the junkyard want WAY to much for everything.... let me get this right....if i want power disk brakes i will need......front spindles....new master cylinder...brake booster... proportioning valve.... am i missing anything? the main prob i have...is at the light in staging.....i have a 2500 stall...and i tried to get the rpms up a little bit...and darn if i wasnt spinning the right rear at the light...and that helped me to get the 2.90 second 60 foot time so yeah..i need more gripping in the rear drums....
I was lucky enough to find a 4 door with everything that I wanted my 2 door to have. I used the brake pedal assembly, master cylinder, brake booster, spindles, rubber brake lines. It wasn't that hard, but it wasn't a completely straight forward swap either. A few things to note are that the stock rubber brake lines for your front drum setup will not work with the discs, you will need to swap over the rubber lines too. You may also have to relocate some of the lines as well as line brackets. As an added bonus the master cylinder has completely different connections on it too, so I had to put some new fittings on them, chop them a bit, and bend them to fit. I used the stock drum proportioning valve just so I wouldn't have to modify all the lines going into that. It works great. I did move it down and over about 4 inches so it would clear the booster however. I was able to do the whole swap by just using parts off the donor car or modifying the parts on my other car. One other big thing to note is that you'll have to use a pickle fork to get your spindle off. When you do that, you'll tear the hell out of your balljoint boot and will likely have to replace them. The downside to all this is that the balljoints are riveted on. You have two options when replacing the balljoints: drill out the rivets and get replacement balljoints that you can bolt on, or you can just buy brand new upper control arms including bushings (that's what I did). It took me a few days to do the whole front brake swap.
