2003 Ford F150 8.8 to 9.7 rear end comparison H-9 axil

It worked!
But not straight forward at all.
The 9.7 is actually about 1.5" wider than the 8.8 so I had to have the drive shaft shortened by an inch.
The broken yoke took forever to figure out. Spicer doesn't make it anymore and the numbers I could find didn't cross to anything. The key is the u-joint cap diameter on the original was 1.0625 (1-1/16") X 3 5/8". The yokes that available are either 1-2/16" or 1-3/16". After searching online for hours I finally call my local driveline guy (Walker Driveline in Medford Oregon) and he was aware of the problem and had some aftermarket yokes in stock.
The 1.062 yoke is extremely common. Ford used it for millions of vehicles for years and years. Why they would discontinue it is just another Ford mystery.
Then the next problem was the u-joint I bought had a zerk fitting on it. That doesn't work because it is to think to install it so I had to order a Spicer non-greasable u-joint and that worked perfectly. Do not try to grind away enough material on the yoke to make the other one fit.
The other thing you will find are the three different types of wheel beings. There are new bearings out there that include built in oil seals. So there are three types to choose from now. Original with separate seals that are lubed with the gear oil. The others combined (built in) with one out seal and one with an out and inner seal that is designed to be greased. The newer kind with combined seals are actually designed to contact on the axil 1/2" to the outside of the original race. This is for when you have damaged to original axil. If it is not damaged there is no reason to used the newer style. Also you will have to pull the whole bearing just to replace the seal. Seems unnecessary. Hope that makes sense.
Everything else matched up just fine.
So the ujoint was a Spicer 5-1330X. The yoke is a Spice 1330.
Good luck with the axil numbers. It maybe that the original in my truck had been replaced at some point with an 8.8. The replacement I got was supposed to be an 8.8 that came out of a 2003 F150 4x4 XLT. It should have been a direct match but wasn't. Go figure.
Hope this helps.
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