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