8.75 from a ‘65 Coronet in an A body?

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Righty Tighty

Righty Tighty

Blame it on the dog
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Hey FABO,

Has anyone used an 8.75 from a ‘65 B-body in their A-body? I found one with an advertised drum-to-drum width of 58-5/8”. From what I understand, A-body rears are 57-1/8”, so this would be 1-1/2” wider (3/4” on each side). Obviously this means I’d need more backspacing than normal.

I will have to relocate the perches 1/2” inward on each side, but this housing comes with new perches.

I’ve looked up the width of ‘65 B-body rears, and the measurements I’ve found are 59-1/2” drum to drum, and 44” perch to perch. The seller said his is narrower because his has 2” drums. I’m still learning here, so would this work?

The seller claims to have sold many of these rears for guys putting them in A-bodies and racing them and I want to believe him, but I thought I’d ask around first.
 
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Yep I had one in my 66 dart worked great just got to add the extra backspace to what ever rim and tire size you use.
 
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Which A-body do you have? Makes a difference. The Dusters/Demons/Dart Sports and Barracuda’s are 1” wider in the quarters than Darts/Scamps/Valiants are, so a wider rear axle works better in the sport body’s than it does in the hardtops.

I have a 68-70 B body 8 3/4 in my Duster, for example. It also depends on what wheels you want to run, higher backspace wheels are easier to find “off the shelf” in 17’s and 18’s than they are in 14/15’s.

As for the measurements, he probably just used a different landmark. The width of the drums does not change the width of the rear end from wheel mounting surface to wheel mounting surface. The offset on the backing plates is different, the axles themselves are the same. So either he screwed up his measurements or that axle is not a 65-67 B.
 
This is the dart with stock 5on4.5 steelies

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Didn't the '65 B body rear still use tapered axles, or was that the year that they changed? B bodies aren't in my wheelhouse, but that could be an issue if they do.
 
Professor Fate said:
Didn't the '65 B body rear still use tapered axles, or was that the year that they changed? B bodies aren't in my wheelhouse, but that could be an issue if they do.
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‘64 used tapered axles. ‘65 should have the later style.
 
Thanks everyone.

72bluNblu said:
Which A-body do you have? Makes a difference. The Dusters/Demons/Dart Sports and Barracuda’s are 1” wider in the quarters than Darts/Scamps/Valiants are, so a wider rear axle works better in the sport body’s than it does in the hardtops.

I have a 68-70 B body 8 3/4 in my Duster, for example. It also depends on what wheels you want to run, higher backspace wheels are easier to find “off the shelf” in 17’s and 18’s than they are in 14/15’s.

As for the measurements, he probably just used a different landmark. The width of the drums does not change the width of the rear end from wheel mounting surface to wheel mounting surface. The offset on the backing plates is different, the axles themselves are the same. So either he screwed up his measurements or that axle is not a 65-67 B.
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Sorry about that, I suppose I should’ve mentioned what car it’s going in. I have a ‘68 Barracuda fastback, so I’m thinking the wide wheel wells could work in my favor.

I haven’t decided on wheels, this project is pretty far from being complete, so I have some time to decide. I think 17s might be about as big as I want to go, but we’ll see.
 
Professor Fate said:
Didn't the '65 B body rear still use tapered axles, or was that the year that they changed? B bodies aren't in my wheelhouse, but that could be an issue if they do.
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'65 and up were the modern axle set-up. '64 was the last of the tapered ones. However, it should be noted for the purpose of the OP's question, that if you are re-doing everything anyway (or the axle has already been converted), that a 62 or 63 "B" body housing is the narrowest one, and the '64 is a really wide one. '65 and later fall between those....

An accurate 8 3/4" rear axle width list
 
Righty Tighty said:
Hey FABO,

Has anyone used an 8.75 from a ‘65 B-body in their A-body? I found one with an advertised drum-to-drum width of 58-5/8”. From what I understand, A-body rears are 57-1/8”, so this would be 1-1/2” wider (3/4” on each side). Obviously this means I’d need more backspacing than normal.

I will have to relocate the perches 1/2” onward on each side, but this housing comes with new perches.

I’ve looked up the width of ‘65 B-body rears, and the measurements I’ve found are 59-1/2” drum to drum, and 44” perch to perch. The seller said his is narrower because his has 2” drums. I’m still learning here, so would this work?

The seller claims to have sold many of these rears for guys putting them in A-bodies and racing them and I want to believe him, but I thought I’d ask around first.
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The width of the brake shoe has no effect whatsoever on the overall width of the reared. The axle flange determines the overall width.
 
Professor Fate said:
Didn't the '65 B body rear still use tapered axles, or was that the year that they changed? B bodies aren't in my wheelhouse, but that could be an issue if they do.
Click to expand...
Yes, some did. I had a 65 Coronet that had a hold over tapered axle rear. I've seen others. While it's true, 65 was "supposedly" the changeover year, you know how it is with Chrysler. lol
 
Righty Tighty said:
Thanks everyone.


Sorry about that, I suppose I should’ve mentioned what car it’s going in. I have a ‘68 Barracuda fastback, so I’m thinking the wide wheel wells could work in my favor.

I haven’t decided on wheels, this project is pretty far from being complete, so I have some time to decide. I think 17s might be about as big as I want to go, but we’ll see.
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With a Barracuda you should be fine either way, the slightly wider rear axle won't effect you nearly as much as if you had one of the A's with the narrower wheel tubs. With a 65-67 B-rear in a Barracuda you should be able to run factory wheels/backspacing as long as you don't go wild with tire width in the back, you could probably run at least 235's anyway. I ran 225/60/15's on 15x7's with a 4.25" backspace even with the 68- 70 B rear, but it was super tight to the quarters.. If you want to put 275's in the back you'll need to increase the backspace by the same amount as the increase in width in the axle.

So on a Barracuda with an A-body 8 3/4 and LBP axles you'd want a 15x8 with ~4.5" backspace, with the 65-67 B rear you'd want more like 5.25" to 5.5", depending on your own car's measurements. Assuming that rear is actually a 65-67 B rear of course, ~59.5" wide WMS to WMS and the seller just goofed the measurement. If it's actually narrower then you'd need to adjust accordingly.
 
On my 68 Barracuda, 295s fit right inside the tubs no problem; but on a narrowed rear end and offset perches.
If yur thinking of going that route someday, now's a good a time as any to make the wheel decision, which will then drive the rest of the mods.
the point is that, if this is the case, then you can select any width rear end, and you'll never need to cut the one from the 65 B-body ...... which means you buy a way too wide factory rearend probably for cheap, like out of a C-body or a pick-up truck.
Narrowing the rear end is not where the money is, nor in resplining.The money is in New custom axles. and in shipping things around the country.
275s fit on the stock A-body rear end on 15 x 8.5s with IIRC, a 4.5bs....... or was it a 4", hmmmmmmmmm sorry that was 20 years ago, lol.
 
65-67 B-body rear ends are my favorite for the Duster style cars. I prefer them over the A-body 8.75's.
 
Some good points to consider with the wheel sizing. I’m still in the very early stages of planning the car, but right now the rough sketch looks like 408 Magnum in front of an A833, which is where the 8.75 comes in. Car is currently a slant car with a 7.25. I doubt I’ll ever take it to the track, would just like it to be fun on the street, so some more learning/planning will need to happen before choosing wheels.
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