"A" Body 67 Barracuda rear end problem

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utahpops

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Sorry. I have not got an image resizer so I can't post any pics. I will try to describe what has happened here and if I can get any advice on what to do I would appreciate that. Here goes:
I have a 67 Barracuda. the VIN indicates that it was originally a slant 6. The car had a 3 speed manual trans column shift. It now has a 340 V8 and automatic. The 3rd member housing has the numbers 2070741 on the lower left (driver side) of the housing. I took the rear end out of the car because something punched a hole in the bubble shaped portion of the housing behind the "pumpkin" from the inside out. I removed the axles and the 3rd member and found three pieces in the bottom of the housing. The pieces appear to be brass and have the appearance of some type of shear pin about 1/4 inch in diameter. I think whatever these pieces are were picked up by the ring gear and smashed into the back of the housing in several places and penetrating the housing with a semi circular hole. the ring gear has the numbers 2070225 and 3.91-1 stamped on it. This is a sure grip unit. I do not see any evidence that any gear teeth are broken or damaged. I can see that the brass pieces got really chewed up by the gears though. The car has disc brakes on the front. Manual Steering and Manual Brakes. The lug pattern on all four corners is 5 on 4 1/2. The axles appear to have been replaced at some point. I was under the impression that the "A" body cars had a smaller lug pattern but I am not sure of that. I can get no information from the previous owner because he is deceased. If I can weld the hole shut in the housing I would like to rebuild this unit with some higher gears because the engine seems to rev real high when cruising at any speed above 40 or 50 MPH. Any advice on what to do, gear ratios or if welding the housing rather than replacing is a wise thing to do would be appreciated. I have no experience with rear ends or transmissions.
 
I don't know what would be made of brass in a rear-end, the only thing I cen think of would be a pinion shaft or the lock pin for it but I don't think they are made of brass. does everything look intact? check to see if the pinion shaft for the spider gears is still there along with the lock pin. Yes the housing can be welded back up with no problems. the "41" center sections are the least strong version of the 3 that exsist for the 8 3/4 rear. the stronger ones are the 42 or the 89 with th 89 being the strongest. even still the 41 is still a fairly stout piece. The rear itself may be out of a "B" body car OR someone has put some large bolt pattern axle's on your barracuda. I would keep the large bolt pattern and just change over to a disc brake front spindle setup (large bolt pattern). Makes it easier to find wheels and other parts not to mention the better stopping power. What bolt pattern do you have in the front?
 
There is no brass in a 8 3/4 rear, any pictures? 3.23 gears are nice street gears that give up little in acceleration and keep RPM down cruising on the highway. I'd weld up the housing but clean it up to get any other bad parts out that may damage your new gear set. Get new inner seals also. Small pattern is original, someone has modified the rear and front brakes if they are 5 x 4.5 BC. You should be able to find a 3.23 pumpkin and just swap it for the 3.91 pumpkin.
 
To post pictures:

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Good luck, we're all counting on you....

[ame]http://youtu.be/aB2yqeD0Nus[/ame]
 
I don't know all about the 8.75 but differentials in general... There's a shaft that 2 spider gears run on. There a special bolt that has a long pin like end that holds that shaft in place. I've seen that little bolt broken many times. Is it possible that someone poked a piece of brass in there ?
 
I'm a little familiar with pop's dilemma, as we spoke about it briefly in his "welcome" thread.

The possibility of brass has me puzzled too. If you haven't already, take a magnet to the shrapnel just to confirm it's not iron/steel.

One thought I had was the possibility of a roller out of a bearing floating around, but I can't see how one could get loose in there, unless it was somehow left in the housing from a previous catastrophic failure?

I'll just wait on some pics with y'all. :D
 
 
That is the thrust button that goes through the center of the 2 pinion gear shafts it is what helps set the preload on the rear axles when you adjust the axle end play. Now how the hell it got loose in the rear is another thing you have those two buttons and a pin that holds them together then the ends of the axles press and the larger diameter end of each button so even if the small pin that holds them in alignment is the pinion shafts broke the end of the axle would have to move out away from the button to fall out and it would still be in the center of the posi unit and have to work its way past the spider gears to hit the back of the housing. I think if you look in the side of the carrier were the axle would slide in you will see a hole the the small end of the button came from if you don't see a hole through to the other side a button or part of one is still in the rear and that would mean an extra one was left in the housing and got kicked up by the ring & pinion or the rear was spun with out any axles in it and the buttons just fell out the end of the spider gear which makes the most sense to me. I hope this helps and my vote is for 3:55 rear gears depending on your tire size.
 
Probably happened with a pumpkin swap. They fell out and didn't get noticed. You can see what happened next. Ouch! Are you running Original adjustable bearings or Greens?
 
Hello 66. Thanks for all your input and everyone else for that matter. And a big thank you to oldmanrick too. I do not know if it has greens or not. But as long as it is out and disassembled, I figure I will rebuild it how I want it. Those little buttons may have been a blessing in disguise I guess. Just glad that nothing really major happened that would have messed up the car more. I have a cruising buddy that does trannys and rear ends for a living. I am going to have him rebuild this unit when I get the housing welded up. My guess is the previous owner did not notice that those things had dropped out when he did the axle swap. I have found out a few little tidbits of information when I bought the car but nothing much. The car had been sitting in a barn out behind a tire store in Lake Elsinore, California for about 4 years after the previous owner passed away. Everything I know about the car is what We are discovering as My wife and I play with it and ask question on forums like this. this car is like one I had when I was 17. I remember that car as being one of the most fun cars I had ever owned and vowed to get another one when the right one came along. After looking over the car and how clean and rust free the body was we decided to take a chance on this one. No regrets so far. Thanks again for all your help everyone. You will never know how much I appreciate your willingness to help. I will keep you posted on the progress with the car.
 
I was surprised to see those buttons in there. Just goes to show anything can happen. I know "omahamoparguy" and I speculated that there could be a "B" body rear in the car, but after seeing the picture and eyeballing the rear wheel offset, I pretty sure it's from a "A". And that's a good thing in my book. It's great that you have someone knowledgeable that can put her back together.

That car is beautiful! I think you really got a good one.
 
66fs said:
Probably happened with a pumpkin swap. They fell out and didn't get noticed. You can see what happened next. Ouch! Are you running Original adjustable bearings or Greens?
Click to expand...

My thought too. Post a picture of your axle bearings. If they are the OEM style taper bearings, then you will need to replace those thrust buttons. If they are the Green style or sealed bearing style then you do not need them.
 
Seems he said he had the 4.5" bolt pattern, so they are definetly aftermarket axles if they are in an A body housing! I would speculate that he also has "Green" bearings, especially if he was able to drive the car without the thrust blocks in there! Just thinking out loud, but since he has the picture thing handled, evidence is surely coming! Geof
 
cosgig said:
Seems he said he had the 4.5" bolt pattern, so they are definetly aftermarket axles if they are in an A body housing! I would speculate that he also has "Green" bearings, especially if he was able to drive the car without the thrust blocks in there! Just thinking out loud, but since he has the picture thing handled, evidence is surely coming! Geof
Click to expand...

If you look at the picture of the axle, you'll see they're not aftermarket axles, but redrilled originals.
 
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