8 3/4 ? green bearings or not

Marcohotrod said
the tapered chrysler roller greasable bearings are better than the green sealed ball bearings, especially in a non straight line only car. If U have stock roller bearings why no adjuster? my spool is not splined all the way thru, but is hollow, so U could use a piece of axle as a spacer-BUT it needs to be of a precise length to give the axle bearings .005" - .015" play! (without an adjuster)

Early tapered axles did not use an adjuster. They used shims between the backing plate and axle flange on both sides. The spacer beween axle ends needs to be used on Timkin bearings. For Green bearings, the spacer can be eliminated.

For your question, yes, you can use a cut axle as a spacer as long as it is captured.