Anyone replace their live rear axle?

[No_6]

The shop that rebuilt my diff last year put a bug in my ear. They said that they thought it might be possible to replace the live rear axle in my '96 classic with a Ford Escort unit for around $5500, parts included. They talked about the fragility of the Moris/Italia, and I experienced first hand how hard it was to get spares for it. So replacing it with something stronger with much greater parts availability is appealing. But is $5500 too good to be true? Or is that too high?

[Croc]

Lots of discussion on Blatchat about upgrading the Ital axle and the merits for doing so. Try these these:

 

http://www.blatchat.com/t.asp?id=218933

 

http://www.blatchat.com/t.asp?id=196756

 

http://www.blatchat.com/t.asp?id=143395

 

http://www.blatchat.com/t.asp?id=179094

 

http://www.blatchat.com/t.asp?id=36870

 

http://www.blatchat.com/t.asp?id=25006

 

http://www.blatchat.com/t.asp?id=3316

 

This should start you off thinking the right way. I am not sure if $5500 is a good price though - need to see what it includes or excludes. I assume you have the standard 1700 xflow from 1996? If so, your power is within the limits of the axle and you should not need to upgrade unless you want to lift the power up.

[xflow7]

As Mike says, very common over in the UK.

 

For what it's worth, Skip Harris (aka MarinaMan) at marinaman@marinaman.org has been very helpful in getting parts for my Ital axle domestically.

 

Dave