When I made the swap from 8 3/4" to 9" I found a junkyard 9" from a Lincoln Versailles for $50.I scrapped the brakes,axles,and complete carrier,the only part I used was the housing.I bought the 33 spline Moser axle spool deal for $550 and got a factory "N" nodular housing from a friend for $150. I got the Summit brand 4.56 gears for somewhere around $160,Jeg's had the best deal on a setup kit with a "Daytona" pinion support for around $280.For brakes I used a "stock car" type deal with weld-on caliper brackets,GM calipers and Jeep rotors with Russell lines for about $160 in the whole brake system.Final touch was a used Moser billet yoke for $50. I did all the welding and setup myself but if I were to charge someone to do this I wouldn't do it for less than $400.
So we have an $1800 9" that will take the beating of a 3500# stick shift 11 second bracket car. I didn't backbrace the housing because the Lincoln housing is quite beefy when compared to a standard pass car housing.
So I'm pitted next to my buddy with 67 Camaro running low tens with a Dana plucked from a 66 Plymouth and he wants to trade his Dana for my 9" even up Both 4.56 gears and spools,but the Dana still had drums on it.So I said "what the hell lets do it" That was about 10 years ago and I know the housing is bent because the axles don't go in as easy as they once did
So all I had to do was bolt the Dana in and bleed the brakes but I had to pretty much build the 9" from mostly aftermarket parts
I like them both but for ease of service the 9" gets the nod

Gus