It has been my experience that most 9" rear ends are 28 spline except for heavy duty big block station wagons and 4WD trucks with big blocks. Some Lincolns are 31 spline, but most are 28 spline.

 

If it's a mild 306, 8.8 would be fine. Parking brake on the lincoln does suck a good bit with no leverage. Sell it and put money towards the 8.8 I think. Weighs less and takes a good bit less hp to turn.

 

I did the 8.8 and it was not hard at all. In fact i am starting to do one for a buddy next weekend.
It was cheap too. $220 total and that included new disc brake pads.

so it delivers, 3.73 gears, trac-loc and disc brakes. and all for 220 bucks.

 

I think that maybe the extra unspring weight of the Versailles can be a good thing, since the rear is light in our cars.

 

How did you do it for only 220 bucks?

 

I bought the explorer rear end for $110. I bought the extra passenget side axle for $45. I then purchased the pads at autozone for $51.99.
the only thing i had to buy in the way of material is a 6" piece of 2 7/8 OD heavy wall tubing that i bought but did not use because i left it at home the day was doing the work. My buddy happened to have a piece laying in his scrap pile that worked perfect.(this was for the sleeve)

I flipped the spring pads upside down and swicthed sides then re-drilled two of the holes in each because the axle tube bigger on the 8.8

Sorry, that price did not include the rear end lube.. I have done this twice already and i am going to do a third next weekend.

If you do the 8.8 do not forget to grab the U-bolts from the 8.8 and the drive shaft flang. you will need them. If you are able to get the driveshaft from the explorer grab it too. It is a 4" aluminum shaft and you can have it cut down to fit for about $150 including all new U-joints. i did not but i wish i had.

 

the first one i did was a little more expensive because i paid more for the rear end. if you look you can get them cheap now. there are a lot of them available.

 

Man, that sounds like a great way to go to me.

 

the perches were the only thing that realy took time. i could only find them to fit a 3 in axle tube and the 8.8 was about 3 1/4" if i remember right. so i had to grind them down a bit to fit right.
what i did was gring one of them to fit perfect then i made the second match the first. this is where i took the most time.

if you need more info i think i did a wright up on it and posted it here on the forum. If you need more info let em know and i will repost it with pics if i can find them. I may also just document the one im doing next weekend.

 

I re-used the Explorer perches. I cut them off with a cut-off wheel.