I have decided as a winter project  to update some  things on my old Ford. I am at present replaceing the entire rear end from stock to a 1964 Mustang rear end. The original rear end had 3:30 to 1 ration. My RPMS are running a little high to my liking. The Mustang rear end has 2.73 to 1 ratio. This will give me a better running gear going down the road. I plan to take some road trips in it next summer. It is a good road gear.
A good practice when replacing a complete  rear end for one that has been sitting around out of a car and lying where the elements can get to it is to  replace the gear lube, replace the brake shoes and also replace the wheel cylinders. Wheel cylinders are only about ten bucks each and well worth the  peace of mind. One of  the drums was cracked so I purchased two new ones. Braking is very important to  me. The only alteration I had to make to  the rear end was to cut of the spring pearchs and weld on new ones. The stang rear end was only one half inch wider than  the  original which only computes  to one quarter inch per side. And yes I made sure my beefy radials  would fit  before I went to all this trouble. The pic is of the old rear end and components used to make the change. My tranny is out of a 78 T Bird. Automatic C6 therefore I had to alter the drive shaft. Front of drive shaft is now for the T bird tranny and the rear is for a 68 Mustang....reminds me of the old Johnny Cash song. Does anyone know which on that is???