Moved the 72 dart to the front of the shop. 318 car. 7 1/4 rear end. The purchase was 3 years ago and included two additional rear ends. One housing is 3723599 and is a posi the other is 2852905 and is a one legger. Are either of these worth installing? This is intended as a budget build for my wife. The 318 is done. I have two auto transmissions and ready to put the drive train together. I ordered the leaf spring relocation kit to allow for wider tires. New rear quarters are fitted but not secured. I figured I better get the rear end figured out first. I bought the car for $1000 with a ton of parts. $700 for the 318 that has been gone through and a ton of additional parts. I need some guidance on the best path forward on a rear end path. The 3723599 rear looks like It’ll need a lot to get to A body width. please just tell me what to do. I gotta get some progress on this build. The house is getting kinda cold already…lol
72 Dart rear help. What do I have?
- Thread starter Otteb
- Start date
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Photos are your friend.
The part numbers might be meaningless as casting numbers are not always the same as the part number.
The part numbers might be meaningless as casting numbers are not always the same as the part number.
Professor Fate
Push the button, Max...
8.25 truck rear ends, maybe Dakotas? The giveaway is that the spring perches are on top of the housing (you've got them upside down in the pictures). Assuming that they're 5 bolt (Dakotas went to six lugs around '92-'93ish), they could be 5x4.5 or 5x5 depending on the year.
If you want to keep your 5x4 bolt circle, keep the 7.25 for now while you look for an 8.75. If you're converting to 5x4.5, they may be useable if they're not 5x5, and dependent on overall width. They'll need all the brackets cut off and new spring perches welded on.
If you want to keep your 5x4 bolt circle, keep the 7.25 for now while you look for an 8.75. If you're converting to 5x4.5, they may be useable if they're not 5x5, and dependent on overall width. They'll need all the brackets cut off and new spring perches welded on.
Looks to me like Chrysler 8.25.
Not suure what it's out of.
Not suure what it's out of.
Professor Fate
Push the button, Max...
That looks more like a passenger car or 2wd Dakota rear end.
Photo of cover plate.
Looks upside down
Measure perch cl to perch cl 43 is A body (IIRC)
Just a guess 7 1/4 with 9" brakes.
Looks upside down
Measure perch cl to perch cl 43 is A body (IIRC)
Just a guess 7 1/4 with 9" brakes.
Maybe another 8.25"
if it's the right width an 8 1/4 is a good rear end - way better than a 7 1/4. What are you planning to do with the car?
ragtopfury
Well-Known Member
So what is the perch to perch measurement?
8.8???
Doesn't really matter, neither of them appear to be A-body rear ends based on the perch location being on the bottom of the tube and the presence of shock mounts.
The overall width will be the main point, the perches are easy enough to move and will have to be moved regardless. Since we're talking about a Dart the rear end width can't be too much more than stock A-body, much more than an inch or two and the backspace required gets to be an issue, as well as getting the wheels on and off the car. For a Duster/Demon/Dart Sport/Barracuda, with the quarters being wider by about an inch per side, you can get away with a wider rear axle. Especially if you go 17/18's, since most have more offset off the shelf.
Ford rear end. Common swap is from an Explorer, most were 3.73 gears and many were limited slip. Readily available in wrecking yards, if you grab two "short side" rear axles and shorten the long side of the housing so both tubes are the same length you get a disk brake rear end with good ratio gears and a limited slip for cheap. Can be used as is too, mostly for Dusters/Demons/Dart Sports/Barracudas because in stock form they're wider than an A-body rear.
AJ/FormS
68 Formua-S fastback clone 367/A833/GVod/3.55s
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For your wife; just leave the 7.25 under there. sell the rest.
LOL! Maybe for your wife AJ.
If I was building a Dart for my wife it would have a Dana 60 in it. I had to replace the entire driveline of our '71 F100 4wd because my wife blew up the single speed Dana transfer case doing burnouts with the old 35x12.50" tires. It got an NP435/NP205 combo out of a '77 F250 after that. It was pretty wild watching that FE390 light up those 35's!
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