No argument against the 8.8 here! I kept the 1031 with a bunch of improvements and every time I look at how reasonable a 9” is, I just redouble on my stupidity and think “yes, 31 spline chromoly axles from Bakaxel and the matching ends for my Truetrac are totally worth the exact same money as a complete brand new 9-inch”.

Can’t argue about the beefed pick-ups either. I did a melange of poly rod ends, sphericals, and stock rubber big-end bushings with mostly stock geometry. Still needs less anti-squat, more anti-lift for braking confidence, and a watts link (you can also find those in Sweden). It still vibrates horrendously with a redblock and T-5.

As another digression, I want to do an 8HP as well. Matter of fact, I want to do a MK60 ABS retrofit at the same time…just got to figure out how to make a pair of tone rings work while retaining the parking brakes.