Went through the axle and replaced the brake shoes, changed the oil, new hydraulic wheel cylinders and seals. The seals are the scotseal type, press in by hand and hopefully will stop the leak that is obviously there! Had to weld new spring pads on, the stock ones were too wide.
Also changed the rear cover out for a 2008 Superduty finned aluminum one. ($45 from Ford instead of $280 for a mag-hytec). BTW you also need 12 5/16-18 by 1"L fasteners. Still no drain or fill plugs, not impressed. I used the ABS sensor hole to fill.
Wheel adapters (from chromewheel.com) arrived badly packed. Really, no packing at all, just two ~35# adapters laying on top of eachother!?! WTF!! Threads were damaged in a few places, lots of marks from riding all the way from Texas to California. Not impressed.
They do fit. This is a heavy little adapter. No questions as to whether it can hold up or not. Unfortunately the threads are a little damaged and taking the nuts off was difficult at times.
Got the wheels on, lifted the rear frame and wheeled the old axle and tires out from under the truck. Here it is being set back down on the axle.
New axle and inners in place. Got a deal on a set of four Accuride 28478 rims. A bit heavy and certainly overkill, but wow! The 12R22.5's are HUGE. Rear of the truck is now a bit higher than the front (2"). I'm also taking out some leaves, hoping to get the spring rate down reasonable and shed some weight.
Axle installed, at ride height, ready to go down the road for the first time... Once the driveshaft arrives that is!
If you drive a Miata, this is your view from the rear.