Topic: rotation of rear axle

[dieselsmoke]

I'm still building my rig and I'm at the point of axles. I have seen lots of trucks that have rotated their rear axle so the pinion is pointed directly at the transfer case. I have a rear axle from a 94 truck that will have a e-locker in it with 4.88 gears. I went with the 4.88's because I'm going to shoehorn a ford 5.0 under the hood. My question is will my rear live with the pinion pointing at the transfer case ? keep in mind I'm building a daily driver. I still have to get the chromoly axles for both ends, I have a set of the empi heavy duty birfields. Also I was thinking about using the axle gusset from the front on the rear actually 4 of them top and bottom on both sides, or is that just overkill ? I plan on beating on the truck hard so I wanted everything to be as strong as possable. As for the rest of the drivetrain I have a 94 w56 trans and a top shift t/case that will have 4.70's and a marlin twin stick, e-lockers on both ends running 35's on 10" wheels, except for the boggers 35x16x15's will be on 12" wheels. I will have 3 sets of tires street, mud and rocks, bfg a/t, boggers and m/t Baja claw. I figure that way the off road tires will last longer, As always all comments or suggestions welcome

[kneedownnate]

With a 5.0 you're gonna want more than the empi birfs, you'll shatter those the first time you flog it.  Go 30 spline longs.  I'd only go with 2 top gussets for the rear, but if you're that worried about it I'd source a ford 9" just to be sure.  If you do go longs let me know if you wanna sell the empis, I'm going very mild with my truck and I was gonna buy those later.

[toyman1994]

i'm with kneedown...if you are gonna be hard on it with a 5.0, go with a different axle.  I'm not sure if your w56 is gonna live up to it either.  Just my .02.

[dieselsmoke [OP]]

I was going to get the chromo bir's and the longs are what 35.00 more but wait where can you get a 30 spline replacement, no i think chromo bir's and empi spares, sounds better to me, besides someone else on the trail may need a bir cause it's gonna break,
 
I was thinking the gusset's for rigidity, and if the gears will live with the pinion pointing at the t/case or is that for off road or comp trucks, or is their a benefit. I was going to get longer spring perches to reduce twist
I have s13wb calipers and l/c rotors for all four corners.

got the rear axle bearing set and the solid pinion spacers on the way, gotta get the wheel spacers

I have a Dana 60 rear , a RH divorced NP205 need a Dana 60f RH 69" wms. and a NV4500

haven't been able to find an R trans yet, I'm working on getting up some recent pic's.