As far as the Pinon being Off Center many Cars and Trucks come that way stock it is so that it works the U Joint's plus as small an amount as this would be its doubtful its going to cause any major trouble on the street.
The 1963 Falcon and Comets Rear Axles as well as the 1960, 1961, 1962 7 1/4 Axels are suppose to be 55.8 Inch Wide. The 1963 ½ Falcon & Comet V8 cars with their V8 8 Inch Axle is 55.8 inches wide they are the very best bolt in fit for the 1960 to 1963 Falcon’s & Comet’s they are also harder to find because of the much lower number built.
This is how the 8 Inches all Measure. Note: The lengths are a complete Axle from brake drum face to brake drum face. For 1964-73 Mustangs you subtract 5 inches to get the bare axle housing width measurement.
1963 ½ Falcon & Comet V8 cars their 8 Inch Axle is 55.8 inches wide
1974 Maverick 8 Inch is 56.50 inches Wide
1975 Mustang II 8 Inch is 57.00 inches Wide the spring Perches need moving for use in a Falcon / Comet
1965-66 Mustang 8 Inch is 57.25 inches Wide
1964-65 Falcon & Comet’s 58 inches Wide
1967-70 Mustang, Cougar, Comet, Fairlane 8 Inch is 59.25 inches Wide
1971-73 Mustang 8 Inch is 61.25 inches Wide
Many people have used the Maverick 8 Inch and next to the 1963 1/2 8 Inch it bolts right in and fits pretty well. Some have also use the 1965-66 Mustang or 1964-65 Falcon / Comet 8's too. So now the looking at the The 1983 to 1992 Ranger 7.5 Axle its suppose to be 56.50 Inches wide this is the exactly same as width as the Maverick 8 Inch that bolts in and fits good and is less than 3/4 (.720) Inch Wider or less than 3/8 of an inch per side all you might need to do is maybe change the Spring Pad Width's to the Falcon / Comet Specs. I don't know what the Ranger Spring Pad Width is right now but I an considering doing this swap and will be checking that out on my next trip to the wrecking yard. So to me this should be an "Easy Peasey" Swap into the early 1960 to 1963 Falcon's and Comet's even if it needs a little bit of welding to accomplish.
And here is another Bonus one for those with early 1960'sto 1965 Falcon's & Comet's to be able to fit some much wider still Wheels & Tires on the back. Another low cost, Light Weight, Plus Narrower still in a Rear Axle with Discs, a Posi, and a good selection of Gear Ratio's I am wondering if there is some parts interchange with the 7.5 Ranger Axles. These are the 1982 to 1993 Chevy S-10's, S-10 Blazer SUV, the GMC S-15 Jimmy & later named the GMC Jimmy SUV, Oldsmobile Barvada SUV, & maybe you might come across one of the supper rare 1991 to 1993 Turbo Charged GMC Syclones and Typhoons that were all wheel drive, they had a 7.5 Inch Rear Axle or also with a 8.5 Inch. These 2 Wheel Drive Rear Axles only measure 54.25" Wide and will give you little more room for wider Wheels & Tires and also use a set of the AFX / Supper Stock Drag Race type Rear Leaf Spring Relocators and you could get some really wide Rear Wheel & Tires. You would only need to re-drill Stud circle for the Ford pattern or use Chevy pattern wheels and some of the wheels might come with both Bolt Patterns too. .
As far as the Maverick 8 Inch Axle a simple Drum Brake up grade for them is to use the Granada Brakes they have the fined Drums and the Backing Plates will bolt right on for a 2 1/2 (2.5) Inch Wide Shoes. It's a direct swap and even will connect up to the stock Emergency Cables too. The first time I found out about these Large Drum Brake swaps was many years ago when doing them onto a 9 Inch Axle. I put a set of largest Station Wagon / Police / Taxi type 3 Inch wide Brake Shoe Backing Plates and Drums on the front and 2 1/2 Brake Shoe Backing Plate and Drums on the rear Axle of my 1958 Ranchero it was a complete bolt on job and man what a difference in stopping power that made. Also note that this works partly because that the 8 Inch Axles would all have the 28 Spline Axles and so do many of the 9 Inch Axles also have the same 28 Splines the Axles from a 8 or 9 Inch with 28 Splines will directly interchange between them if those Axles have the same Lengths.
