8 3/4 question

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WRB426

Insane 4 Mopars
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Does anybody have the length of an A body 8 3/4? Do you measure from spring perches or end to end? Looking at one Sun. Want to make sure it's not an B body. Thanks for any info.
 
IF the perches haven't been moved, an A body will measure 43" center to center on the perches. I put a B body rear in my car and the perches were 44" I moved them in 1/2" each to bolt it in.
 
Thanks!! Once again this site is awesome!
 
An A body 8.75 housing will be 52 5/8" from flange to flange.

Total length with SBP axles is 57 1/8"

Perches are 43" on center.
 
Does anybody have the length of an A body 8 3/4? Do you measure from spring perches or end to end? Looking at one Sun. Want to make sure it's not an B body. Thanks for any info.


The generally-inflated price of A Body 8.75" rear ends has resulted in a lot of people using B Body rear end housings in their A Bodies. There are some different width B Body rears, though, so you must be careful to get the narrowest B Body housing that was made.

We put one in our '64 Valiant, and only had to do two things; moved the spring perches in (toward the center) half an inch on each side, and bought a pair of steel wheels from Stockton Wheel Conpany that had been built with additional back-spacing, to get the tire back into its original position in the wheel-well.

Overall, doing this was a lot cheaper for us than paying through the nose for an A Body housing.

I think a lot of people have done this.

Good luck !!!:cheers:
 

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Bill, didn't the cost of the stockton wheels end up canceling the savings of using a B-Body rear?
 
Bill, didn't the cost of the stockton wheels end up canceling the savings of using a B-Body rear?

Around here, A Body 8.75" housings are like gold... and if you find one somewhere else and have to have it shipped to you, that's expensive, too. We got the '66 B Body rear end with a 742 third member, drum-to-drum for $240.00; no shipping. I don't remember how much the wheels were, but the cost of the wheels and complete rear end were cheaper than an A Body housing around here, I am pretty sure..

Maybe where you live, they're cheaper. That's always a possibility.
 
why not chop a c body housing down?

tons of them in the wreckers and very simple to chop down for 1/4 the price......

I have the mechanical aptitude of a ringed-tail monkey, and the tools to match. Not a whole lot of people have a 5-foot lathe at their disposal, and I don't own a lathe of ANY kind, so Il'l leave shortening housings and axles to the people who have the skill and equipment to accomplish something like that. I'm just not equipped to do it...:sad7:
 
$240 is a great price especially with a 742 carrier! :thumblef:

I thought so, too. I would have bought the U-bolts too, but they were torched in the quick-and-dirty removal of the housing from the car. It was refreshing to find a junkyard that actually had, on its property, a whole gang of early (1960-1975) Mopars that were all somewhat intact. Most of the junkyards I find nowdays, have taken all the old stuff to the crusher and operate on the rationale that a 1990-year model car is borderline "too old" for their inventory.

That 742 chunk has a 2.76 gear in it; perfect for our race car project, with a spool. That's my next project... :prayer:
 
I have the mechanical aptitude of a ringed-tail monkey, and the tools to match. Not a whole lot of people have a 5-foot lathe at their disposal, and I don't own a lathe of ANY kind, so Il'l leave shortening housings and axles to the people who have the skill and equipment to accomplish something like that. I'm just not equipped to do it...:sad7:

your local welding shop can handle the job ... or a machine shop.
Take a drive out into the small towns and stop at the local watering hole and mention welding to the old coots in the watering hole and they could direct you to someone.
 
I would say $240 was a great price.. I got lucky, found my 8.75 housing, axles, and backing plates at the Mopar Nats a few years back for $350... then I paid $200 for 742 center with .323's (sure grip) .. But by and large my experience is that a-body 8.75's prices just continue to rise.. They're pretty far up there in price around here too.
 
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