7 1/4 rearend brakes swappable on to 8 3/4 ?

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Mopar64340

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So I'm wondering if you can use the rear drums and axles from a 7 1/4 on an a body 8 3/4 ?
 
In short no. But depends on which 7 1/4 rear your talking about. They made big bolt pattern 7 1/4”, small bolt, 9 bolt rear cover, 10 bolt rear cover BBP which is a kinda hybrid rear. But no way will axles interchange. Brake Plates will work on a 8 3/4”.
 
When I swapped my 7 1/4 to an 8 3/4 on my 68, I think I had to change the backing plates.
 
Generally the 7 1/4 have very small brakes so I don't understand why you would WANT to

This, really, is a paradox that has bothered me for decades. "The family man" buys a low Chev Biscayne, a moredoor Belvedere, a trimless Ford and a six. Then loads it up with the 4 kids, dogs, gear, camping, trailer, boat, whatever, and even though it's a "six" it will still do 65-70 and has a LOT of weight in the car.

But the manufacturers, ALL of them, "figured" that the "big block buyers" needed "more brakes" so the larger the engine the bigger and better the brakes.
 
Generally the 7 1/4 have very small brakes so I don't understand why you would WANT to

This, really, is a paradox that has bothered me for decades. "The family man" buys a low Chev Biscayne, a moredoor Belvedere, a trimless Ford and a six. Then loads it up with the 4 kids, dogs, gear, camping, trailer, boat, whatever, and even though it's a "six" it will still do 65-70 and has a LOT of weight in the car.

But the manufacturers, ALL of them, "figured" that the "big block buyers" needed "more brakes" so the larger the engine the bigger and better the brakes.
Well I can tell you why my family did just that. In 1960 my dad was a City of Tampa Cop. He made made $ 121.00 a month. My mom was a beautician and might have made 75.00 month. I had a sister and myself. My dad did his best for us to live the American dream. But he always came up short-in the money.
Bought a homemade pop up camper that was way to heavy for our Ford Falcon to pull. But it is what he could afford. He bought recap tires that we were forever having blow outs pulling that trailer. He bought a 17-18’ worn out boat with one of those white Mercury straight six outboard to take us fishing. We were towed back several times cause it quit running. Yeah sometimes you do things cause you just can’t Financially do better.
 
Yea I get your logic, The most my Valiant will have will be 300 hp. The only reason Im swapping it is to have more access to a gear ratio of my liking. But i do believe that the 7 1\4 is more than enough for that much power. I just found a set of A body axles and drum brakes for 150 so Im going go with that
 
Its a convertible and ive installed the Sub connectors, and I am in the process of having my heads ported to flow the best they can with a 340 intake and a 340 stock cam. so the 8 3/4 with do great with that upgrade
 
Short answer, you can use the drums and the hardware. The backing plate from a 7 1/4” rear only has 4 mounting holes, the 8 3/4” has 5, not sure if it can be drilled to make it work or not. All 8 3/4” small bolt axles are offset for the 1 3/4” shoes, no others will work. The drums must also reflect this offset, so the LBP drums will not work unless they use the 1 3/4” shoes.
 
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Short answer, you can use the drums and the hardware. The backing plate from a 7 1/4” rear only has 4 mounting holes, the 8 3/4” has 5, not sure if it can be drilled to make it work or not. All 8 3/4” small bolt axles are offset for the 1 3/4” shoes, no others will work. The drums must also reflect this offset, so the LBP drums will not work unless they use the 1 3/4” shoes.
Awesome, thanks Brotha. Im going to buy that set that i found from a guy that went for the big bolt pattern on his duster so he is selling me the axles and brakes
 
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