7 1/4 axle shafts needed...

JDMopar said
You might have misunderstood what Roy meant when he suggested swapping in a big bolt pattern 7 1/4. In the last years of A bodies....maybe 74-76, the 7 1/4 differentials were switched to 4 1/2 inch bolt pattern on V8 cars. They are a direct bolt in for what is in your car now. Swapping the whole rear end is as easy or easier than swapping axles out of your existing housing. 8 nuts on the U bolts, 2 parking brake cables, 1 brake line, 2 u joint straps.....drag the old one out, put the new one in, and put everything back in place. When I was 16-17 years old, I learned how to do it out of necessity because I was dumb enough to keep knocking the fragile little things out of my 70 Duster! :BangHead:

Ahhhhh, I absolutely misunderstood ! ! In fact, as I get into the nitty gritty of removing the Axle Assembly as a whole, it is actually less intense than what I thought, and in reading the steps, like JDMopar said, just easier than doing the shafts......

I'll admit that the more parts I see in an exploded view of things (propeller shaft pieces) the less willing I am to take things on..but seeing as it's really the same pieces by four, it's a lot less intense .....
I was also clearly misunderstood on the very fact that the swapping of axles doesn't necessarily mean you need to break apart the diff' and get into that area of the car......if the axle widths are fairly close to one another, this is now becoming the option to consider.......

More reading and number crunching is what I'm in for....Your replies to this simple want ad in knowledge alone far exceeds the amounts I might've handed over in the pursuit of getting to 4.5 in the back.....I have a feeling I may end up doing a swap down the road, but for the first year of her being on the road-I might go with what I have as I have just about everything except the shafts to get it going (4.5 in the back)....and you can see the shafts that are there now are already one stud down....

A million thanks to all, the knowledge gained, even on a Freshman level, is immense ! ! !