is this a 1957 9" rear axle ?

hiball3985 · 2016-04-11 10:52

Quote from: lalessi1 on 2016-04-11 10:21
Looked at the parts book, duh. There are two carriers listed for '57s C0AZ 4141-A and C2AZ 4141-B. The latter has large carrier bearings. There is only one pinion seal listed for '57's: 1 13/16" ID x 4 1/8" OD x 21/32" thick, PN B7A 4676-A.

It would seem you have the C0AZ while I have the C2AZ, carriers being dictated by R&P ratio.

I don't know what bearings my original had, it had the 3.89 RP. I only cleaned it up, replaced the seal and ran it for a year before building another one. I think the new rear I'm using had the smaller bearings, I still have those and will have to look.

RICH MUISE · 2016-04-11 10:57

The pics that Jim posted.....mine looked like the unpainted one on the right, and I believe it to be oem to the car.

hiball3985 · 2016-04-11 17:40

Quote from: RICH MUISE on 2016-04-11 10:57
The pics that Jim posted.....mine looked like the unpainted one on the right, and I believe it to be oem to the car.

I have no date when the rear design changed so possibly the 58 third members ended up in some late production 57's?

?

lalessi1 · 2016-04-11 18:15

I think they coexisted because of geometry and loads originally and continued for a while... note the "C0" and "C2" parts dating for the replacements in the parts book. The "book" I have are CD copies of printed material published in the early '60s. I think there were simply 2 different carriers for a time.

hiball3985 · 2016-04-11 18:40

Quote from: lalessi1 on 2016-04-11 18:15
I think they coexisted because of geometry and loads originally and continued for a while... note the "C0" and "C2" parts dating for the replacements in the parts book. The "book" I have are CD copies of printed material published in the early '60s. I think there were simply 2 different carriers for a time.

It gets very confusing, I don't have a parts book but didn't you say they only listed the large seal for both? On top of it all Ford was notorious for changing part numbers through the years. Talk to any one who worked as a parts man and they probably don't have any hair

gasman826 · 2016-04-11 18:49

Round back (first generation) were used through '64 and maybe beyond. The '57 housing has a drain plug in the bottom...'64 did not.

hiball3985 · 2016-04-11 19:33

Quote from: gasman826 on 2016-04-11 18:49
Round back (first generation) were used through '64 and maybe beyond. The '57 housing has a drain plug in the bottom...'64 did not.

Fill locations changed over the years too. I made that mistake one time, put a later third member in a 57 that didn't have a fill plug on the third member. I had to pull and axle and pour the lube down the axle tube

lalessi1 · 2016-04-11 20:10

Quote from: hiball3985 on 2016-04-11 18:40
It gets very confusing, I don't have a parts book but didn't you say they only listed the large seal for both? On top of it all Ford was notorious for changing part numbers through the years. Talk to any one who worked as a parts man and they probably don't have any hair

Well I still have (some) hair!!! My brother has been a parts man his whole life, and he doesn't!! I am confused as a rule...I wouldn't bet much on my "reading" of the parts book...but I stand by my interpretation of the pixels I have access too...This is FUN!

hiball3985 · 2016-04-11 20:23

I'm glad you still have some hair

All I know for sure is the three Customs and three Rancheros I've owned all had the large 57 type carrier and seal. I also looked at my friends wagon today when we went to lunch and it's the same too, he also has a Ranchero and said it was the same also..

This brings me to another question. Why did they change the design after just one year? What was the problem?

lalessi1 · 2016-04-11 20:54

These are my thoughts (BUT it is happy hour here).... My reading of the "book" is that there is only one seal? There are two carriers (not housings) and they are different because of the teeth interface and dimensional/load concerns? (Just a WAG). This makes sense to me now but who knows... works for me...

I am thinking the "beefed up" carriers failed because they had lower R&P sets used for drag racing so Ford went to nodular iron.

I actually wish we could hang out and kick this around in person...

If I knew how I would try to post the "book" pages here for opinions.

Not at all confident at this point, BUT HAPPY.

hiball3985 · 2016-04-12 06:05

When Guenter gets back to read his post with all the info provided he should be as confused as the rest of us

So back to my thinking if there is only the one seal listed that means all 57 had the large carrier housing and seal. Then in 58 they changed to the smaller one. All the info I have ever read on 9" rears never covers anything on the 57 design that I can find.

djfordmanjack · 2016-04-12 15:49

Wow.... what, huh

That's a lot more information than I was asking for....hahaha....
Thanx to Jim's pics I can now exclude the big pinion seal for the 57 as my carrier looks totally different. according to the '8' casting numbers it most probably is a 58 or 59 model unit. My axle housing has the drain plug though, which is a hint that it could be the original 57 wagon axle housing with big wheel bearings.

djfordmanjack · 2016-04-12 15:53

drain plug

hiball3985 · 2016-04-12 16:44

Still puzzling. We don't know if someone changed it over the years or if Ford did it towards the end of the production???

SkylinerRon · 2016-04-16 01:15

Retracts, Wgns, Rancheros and SD's all had the big axle and carrier bearings regardless of gear ratio. The rest used small bearings.
All 57's used the 4" pinion seal.
3.25 ratio was not available in 57.
All 57's used 28 spline axles.

Ron.

News:

is this a 1957 9" rear axle ?