'86 rear axle.

I had a vibration in the rear at speed. Replaced the U-joints and trans output shaft bushing and seal. BTW, the new bushing from Ford was longer than the old one, a little more bearing surface, good. Still there, pulled the axles and the passenger side bearing was toast and pieces. Replace the bearing with an axle saver one piece bearing/seal. Much better for a while, now the vibration is back starting at 50/55 and getting worse as speed goes up. It's not as much amplitude as before but higher frequency.

I'd just as soon replace the axle this time. Does anyone know whether the V6 and V8 axles for the '86 7.5 rears will work. 9 inch drums, 4 hole. I quess the standard 28 spline. I've seen an '86 V8 in the PicknPull, will that work?

They should interchange. I'd do both axles and both bearings. Just in case so you won't have to do it again on the other side.
I used one of those axle saver setups in a GMC Jimmy I used to have and ended up replacing the axles anyway. Not worth the money

I bet that most of the axles you find in the JY, espacially high mileage ones, will be damaged anyway. A few years ago, I had your problem on my 86 Tbird 5.0 (same axles as your TC), and I picked up a brand new set of 2 axles, bearings, and seals from Moser Engineering for about $270 including shipping. They had the axle dimensions on file so I didnt need to send them my old ones to get the dimensions from. I got the new stuff from Moser about 5 days after ordering, which is pretty good, as they had to make them!

I agree that axle saver bearings arent the best solution, unless you are planning on selling the car in the next 3 months.

Well I was trying to get by for a while with the axle saver. I have an 8.8 rear I want to put under the car, but I want to go thru it first, replacing its bearing/seal and axles if necessary. Also check the diff. But I can't get to that right now, so I need to fix the 7.5 as cheap as possible. I'll go take a look at the ones in the junk yard. Thanks for the info.

And the car is not going to be sold. It's my toy.

As a side note.

Keep in mind the '86-'88 7.5 housing is wider than the 83-85's and any of the 8.8's (through '98).

The axles themselves are the same length, and the trackwidth is unchanged.

Just keep this in mind when swapping/replacing axles. Pay close attention to the bearing surface locations.

Thanks for the reminder!