[Found!] 7 1/4 axle shafts needed...

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El Viento

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Good day and good year fellow enthusiasts. I am hoping to find a set of axle shafts for a 7 1/4 axle....I have a 65 Dart, 225 Sedan with the almost always tossed 7 1/4 rear end....anybody happen to keep a set when swapping over and would be willing to part with set at a price you feel is fair, please drop me a line.

I am relistically sending them off to Moser for a redrill to 4.5, with plugs in the orig. 4.00 holes , so that's the plan for em.

Thank you for reading and I look forward to doing business with you.

Since we all like pictures, check out what was there before.....
IMG_20201105_122708559.jpg

It sat for nearly 15 years at a Sheep Ranch...

Even better would be a set that might already have the 4.5 circle drilled and even better than that, with studs installed....I know that's a lot to ask for but you never know ? Thanks again for reading and checking what you might have.
 
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I should point out that by securing a set and sending them off to Moser and having them in hand before I have a chance to work on the axles shafts currently there will save me a TON of time and headache.....I'll be at the Car at the end of March to rebuild the front suspension/swap to Dr. Diffs 11.75 front set up and get the rear completely redone - this is the need to have things in hand when I get back to the car. Thanks again.
 
Check the diameter of the axle flange to make sure there is enough metal to hold the studs securely when redrilled. Some of the 7 1/4 axle flanges aren't quite wide enough. Just a thought to possibly save time & trouble.
 
Check the diameter of the axle flange to make sure there is enough metal to hold the studs securely when redrilled. Some of the 7 1/4 axle flanges aren't quite wide enough. Just a thought to possibly save time & trouble.


A very big thank you to DemonRacer for offering up such awesome advice ! ! ! That's a timesaver and lifesaver in one bit of advice ! !
 
Band them & wrap the splines really good with some Gorilla tape & get a quote from UPS. I shipped a couple of axles that way about 5 years ago & IIRC, the price wasn't outrageous.
 
The housings are different between the small and large bolt pattern axles. The axles do not interchange.
I have both small and large bolt pattern 7 1/4 axle housings, and parts. I also have one set of SBP axles that have been redrilled to LBP, but they are for a complete housing assy. I want to keep that for now.
 
I just hauled a perfectly good, complete 7.250 off to the scrap yard. I tried to give it away...crickets!
Norm

Aye Norm, if I were any closer to the Mississippi River, that may have been an option....but I'm wayyyy out West in Utah and the car is in CA. COVID (and a Wife plus 2 kiddos not willing to travel right now) has really kept me from visiting the car more often as I'd like to, so I've been in the search for something more out West here.

All of that plus a very generous amount of space on my Dart's wheel wells (somehow from the assembly line) keeps me very shy about swapping things from the axle shafts inward...... Darn that I missed it though.
 
Why not look for a 7 1/4” big bolt pattern rear end instead? And you get bigger 10” brakes.


That has definitely been something I've considered, but, because I've taken on the task of redoing the Front End (Suspension) and Brake Conversion up front as well as the Rear Brakes-replacing an axle is something I'm not yet ready to take on....

This is a cruiser and won't have much added HP, plus, I've been slowly gathering all new parts since 2019 and have become comfortable with the 11.75 Rotor Conversion up front/9" Drums in rear tried and true combo.......I've thought of doing the Rear Disc Conversion but I constantly read it's overkill on an Early A Body unless there's some real HP added and a need for that in the back....all of that with a well fitted set of Eastern European wheels already picked for the Dart leaves me to play with things, fit wise, from the axle flange outward....

I fear if go down the replacing rear axle road, it's beyond my mechanical capability and although my Dad can surely do it, he's like 73 and I wouldn't want to bother him with a redesign this far into it....

So for now, I'm on the 7.25 rear + 30mm adapter with an 18" wheel solution that has the perfect amount of backspacing (+adapter width) to keep from getting near the Leaf Springs and just far enough from the Qtr panel lip.

Sorry about the long explanation folks....
 
You might have misunderstood what Roy meant when he suggested swapping in a big bolt pattern 7 1/4. In the last years of A bodies....maybe 74-76, the 7 1/4 differentials were switched to 4 1/2 inch bolt pattern on V8 cars. They are a direct bolt in for what is in your car now. Swapping the whole rear end is as easy or easier than swapping axles out of your existing housing. 8 nuts on the U bolts, 2 parking brake cables, 1 brake line, 2 u joint straps.....drag the old one out, put the new one in, and put everything back in place. When I was 16-17 years old, I learned how to do it out of necessity because I was dumb enough to keep knocking the fragile little things out of my 70 Duster! :BangHead:
 
You might have misunderstood what Roy meant when he suggested swapping in a big bolt pattern 7 1/4. In the last years of A bodies....maybe 74-76, the 7 1/4 differentials were switched to 4 1/2 inch bolt pattern on V8 cars. They are a direct bolt in for what is in your car now. Swapping the whole rear end is as easy or easier than swapping axles out of your existing housing. 8 nuts on the U bolts, 2 parking brake cables, 1 brake line, 2 u joint straps.....drag the old one out, put the new one in, and put everything back in place. When I was 16-17 years old, I learned how to do it out of necessity because I was dumb enough to keep knocking the fragile little things out of my 70 Duster! :BangHead:

Ahhhhh, I absolutely misunderstood ! ! In fact, as I get into the nitty gritty of removing the Axle Assembly as a whole, it is actually less intense than what I thought, and in reading the steps, like JDMopar said, just easier than doing the shafts......

I'll admit that the more parts I see in an exploded view of things (propeller shaft pieces) the less willing I am to take things on..but seeing as it's really the same pieces by four, it's a lot less intense .....
I was also clearly misunderstood on the very fact that the swapping of axles doesn't necessarily mean you need to break apart the diff' and get into that area of the car......if the axle widths are fairly close to one another, this is now becoming the option to consider.......

More reading and number crunching is what I'm in for....Your replies to this simple want ad in knowledge alone far exceeds the amounts I might've handed over in the pursuit of getting to 4.5 in the back.....I have a feeling I may end up doing a swap down the road, but for the first year of her being on the road-I might go with what I have as I have just about everything except the shafts to get it going (4.5 in the back)....and you can see the shafts that are there now are already one stud down....

A million thanks to all, the knowledge gained, even on a Freshman level, is immense ! ! !
 
I have a complete 7.25 a-body axle with a 4x4.5 bolt pattern that I don't want. I'm near Alamogordo, NM.
 
I have a complete 7.25 a-body axle with a 4x4.5 bolt pattern that I don't want. I'm near Alamogordo, NM.

Thanks for the offer Rush4x4, but I am indeed going ahead with the axle shafts idea initially and do the axle swap in maybe a year, give or take. Thanks again for the offer.
 
Got a whole 71/4 out of a 74 duster big bolt pattern 275.00 sorry I check it's a 8 1/4 posi 3.21gear sorry I just ck
 
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