[Tom Vaught]

I made several mistakes with my last rear end project, over several years.

1) I bought a Moser axle housing and axles for a 9" Ford in a GTO body from
Jim Butler. He had it advertised for several years in his catalogue.
Mistake number one was I was going to use the large Ford drum brakes with the larger width brake shoes. Found out I was not going to be happy with the Ford drums on the rear.

2) Bought some "CHEAP" thin metal rear disc brake mounting plates to install GM rear TA brakes.
Mistake number two was I found out how bad they want to rape you on the Trans Am cores and how the rear disc brakes leak and the emergency brake suc*s. I did not bother to investigate the factory
TA mount plates after I found out about the Calipers.

3) Decided to go with Ford Explorer rear disc parts.
Very reasonable price, factory engineered to stop a 6000# weight
vehicle. Nice calipers that do not leak and A SEPARATE Drum Brake
style emergency brake housed to use the rear rotor like a brake drum.

Mistake number 3 was not researching the Explorer brake deal before
I bought the housing from Butler. Butler/Mosers deal uses the Old
style Big Ford bearing housing where the Explorer brake deal uses
the newer Big Ford Bearing that works with the Torino/ 8.8 rear
mounting flange.

So I take the rear apart again, and have the Torino housing ends put on. At the same time I have 1" removed from each side to better center the rims in the wheel house.. Like B-Man suggests.
Find I need a small spacer (Moser has them) to get the right brake spacing for the Explorer brakes. Old is 2-3/8" and new is 2-1/2".

By cutting 1" off each axle tube I now need shorter axles so I
need to have cut off about 1" on each side. Rather than butcher the axle cut by using a chop saw, I have it done properly in a big lathe. Moser Axles ARE HARD! Three carbide bits later they are perfect.

Have to buy Explorer emergency brake cables as the GM "A-Body" ones will
not work properly and because they are NOS I will save them for another project.

Once I get the correct E-Brake cable pieces I should be cooking.

Hot Rod did an article on the swap a few years ago and really liked the
swap. The other thing I like is the Ford Explorer parts will be out there
for at least another 10 years minimum.

Most of the TA (Non original) guys have long *****canned the factory rear
brakes for the better late model aftermarket or Factory parts.

Just for your info.

Tom V.