Explorer rear's, What did you use for wheel size/backspace? Pictures of your truck?

[dsraven]

the ford 8.8 is a strong axle, as said above. the center section is offset, though, which can affect the placement of other things under the truck in that area, exhaust, shocks, stabilizer bar, fuel tank etc. some guys have used a short axle on both sides and simply shortened the long axle tube. axles get used to being torqued one direction so maybe a new axle for that side would be a good idea if introducing a high torque engine to your driveline. a mid '90's mustang has an 8.8 axle with a cemtered middle section. as stated they have a rear disc wiyh a drum style park brake inside that so easy to hook up a strong park brake set up.

ok, back to the question. does a ford 8.8 fit under an AD truck. well, there are some variables we need to know first. are you talking about a stock fendered, stock bed floor kinda truck? what width tire will you plan to run and what wheel do you plan to use? the ford explorer has a 5 bolt wheel pattern so if you stick with a 5 bolt wheel you can use the ford wheels or redrill a 5 bolt pattern beteen the ford pattern. it's easily done with simply making your own pattern from an old ford explorer rear disc flange. drill the pilot holes in the old disc flange where they need to be then mount that up and mark the holes on the axle flange, remove the disc and drill the holes for th new studs.
what I would suggest is to do a cross section style drawing of the area you have to work with on some graph paper, just because it is easy with the lines already square to each other. draw the frame rails at their widest points, then the box width at it widest point on the walls of the box, draw the fender's wheel openings at their narrowest points inside the openings where they curl under and a tire would rub, this drawing will show you what you have for available tire width without rubbing, allow some wiggle room to allow for axle side to side motion due to suspenion component wear etc. now you can draw in the explorer axle dimensions, or whatever other axle you choose, and see if it will fit or if you will need some special offset wheels etc.
do you have a plan for suspension? stock? 4 link? something else? remember the AD truck rear axle that was leaf springs doesn't locate the axle with a spring center bolt like newer style suspensions do. that is because of the torque tube suspension geometry and engineering. there are kits to fix that though.