Big Bang Theory, Why is the nose of my Diff pointing straight down...

BWA said:

Well, progress (I think) to report.

Found a 7.25 rear axle, still attached to donor car, so, not only do I get a new rear axle, I get a whole bunch of other useful parts.

My car is a 75 Valiant Custom, new car is 76 non Custom. Mine has power disc brakes, and, power steering, new car is non power Drum brakes, and, manual steering.

One slight problem, my car is 5 x 4.5, new car is 5 x 4. Can I just swap out the axle shafts once I get the rear end changed over?????

Pictures tomorrow......

Click to expand...

I'm a tad surprised the 76 is a 5x4. I was under the impression that they went 5x4.5 on all models by then. I know some 74s were still 5x4 for drum cars . Hnmn

That's one of the most impressive failures I've ever seen.. You can tell that the backing plates are still orientated correctly, so only the center spun on the tubes. I'm curious to see what the inside of that rear end looks like.

Yeah, you and me both.......

Who would have thought there would have been two almost identical Yellow Perils within 5 miles of each other after all this time..........

That poor thing lost a bar fight.

chryslerfat said:

That poor thing lost a bar fight.

Click to expand...

speaking of welds on the tube and cast center sections, I was under my 01 ram 3500, today, and I noticed that the holes for the plug welds on the rear of the dana 80 aren't even filled at all. WTH!

He T Boned a Mini Van, skewed both front frame rails about 6 inches to the right, and, didn't even break the front headlights, or, bend the front bumper........

That takes some talent

BWA said:

He T Boned a Mini Van, skewed both front frame rails about 6 inches to the right, and, didn't even break the front headlights, or, bend the front bumper........

That takes some talent

Click to expand...

hahaha. When I was in high school, a buddy of mine bought a porsche 356 that went off the road and hit a tree about 24in in dia. dead center. There's not much up front on those cars, so the tree came almost all the way up to the bottom of the windshield. The headlights weren't broken and they were pointing directly at each other. The owner, when he got out of the hospital, didn't even want to look at it. He sold it as is, where is.

Oh look, they're mating.........




Who says Bumper Jacks aren't safe........



Nuther shot of my Twisted Diff before I pull it out...... Couple more days and, we'll see what let go........Can't wait...

Looks like a rock plant thing to do ... "just pick it up with the loader"

Well, finally got the cover off, gears are pretty blue and, very fuzzy/worn.

The Big Bang seems to have split the carrier right through on one side.......




I suspect this is the bearing spacer from the rear pinion bearing. Pinion doesn't turn, so, I suspect the main Boom was the Pinion Bearing coming to pieces.....




More pics after a big nap.............

If ya gotta go ... Go BIG ... Ring gear tried to climb the pinion gear .. That didn't work ... Let's break the center section loose from the axle tubes ... That should relieve some stress ... But it may hurt a bit

OK, after a lot of head scratching, and searching for ideas, I finally broke down and solved my problem.

Problem was, the rear end I broke was 7-1/4 inch, with, 10" brakes, 5x4.5 inch bolt circle, and, 5 stud back plates. Doner axle was 7-1/4 inch, 9" brakes, 5x4 inch bolt circle and 4 stud back plates.

Absolutely nothing was interchangeable from the bearing flanges out, including the bearings themselves, which, are smaller on the 4 stud rear.

Alternatives were, just change the rear, and, live with the smaller brakes and, different pitch circle (this would have drove me nuts mentally), fork out 350.00 (on top of the 300 I already paid for the parts car) for the proper rear end from the wreckers about 3 miles away (this would have drove me even nuttier), or, find some way of changing out the axle tube ends.

Spent a week running around trying to find somebody to do this, with no luck. Said screw it, and, decided to give it a go myself. The worst thing I could do, was screw the whole thing up, right????

So, with options 1 and 2 still available, me and my buddy started cutting.............

I had originally thought about just changing the ends from the saddles out, but, my buddy talked me into cutting the tubes in about half. After thinking about it, this is a much safer solution. If you just change the ends, if the weld breaks (outside the saddle), you lose the wheel/axle, but, if it breaks in the middle (inside the saddle), the axle stays in the car, and, you can probably drive the car some distance at moderate speeds relatively safely.

Anyway, here's what we did, 3 hours start to finish (even with almost an hour out for lunch), so, about a little over 2 hours, including head scratching, and, looking for stuff. I bet we could easily do one under an hour now that we kinda know what we need......




Here you can clearly see the difference between the 4 stud and 5 stud flanges...




It ain't a pretty weld, but, it is strong, with full penetration......

Are the axle shafts the same spline?

Pretty sure they are. Not a big deal to swap out the sun gears if they are not.....

With that much tube to work with easy peasy to make a jig to keep it straight. Perches are in the right place. What an oppurtunity to use those offset spring hangers that are stashed away somewhere in your garage. Don't forget to flush out any welding boogers that may have gotten inside.