A Body Rear End Options?

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J

jeeper

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Hello,

My name is Rob and I teach autoshop at a small school. We have been wanting to build an A body for quite awhile now. So far I have collected most of the pieces, except for the rear end.

Cost is a factor, because the car is my own.

Here's what I do have. I have an F body 8 1/4" rear that has the 3.21's in it currently. I'd like to use it for awhile until I get something better rounded up.

Has anyone tried this? I know I will need to move the spring mounts.

Also, any pics of swapped in B-body rears, I want to see how the wheel sits in the wheelwell.

I appreciate your input, ROB
 
Hi Rob, I have a pic of an 8 1/4 F-body rear in a 1964 Valiant but it is too large to download on this forum. I have since taken out this rear and replaced with an 8 3/4. The F-body rear is about 4 or 5 inches wider than an A-body 8 1/4 and car had to be jacked way up to accomodate. I imagine custom offset wheels could be ordered up to get tires within fenderwells(if thats what you want) but possible a better route to take is a junkyard A-body 8 1/4. They should be easy to find and very inexpensive. I've had the F-body 8 1/4 I removed from car on ebay three times with a starting price of $50 with no reserve and it hasn't sold as of yet, and it is a Posi unit. Mike
 
It may very well be a case of penny wise and dollar foolish!

I have it, but I may just sell it. It has unsagged springs and is 3.21 ratio. I rarely see an F body with decent springs.

Anyways, thanks for the reply. I have not had much luck around here with A body rears in junkyards. Maybe I need to spread my search out.

Thanks for your input, ROB
 
Where's "around here", I have whatever came in my 73 Dart laying on the floor (the backing plate on one side would need to be replaced) you can have if your close enough to get it yourself or pay for shipping. Was gonna haul it out with the rest of the scrap steel in my garage. I put an 8 3/4 B body rear in my dart ( I narrowed it 3/4" on each side) and used aluminum Jeep Cherokee wheels on it to help pull the wheels into the wheel well so it dosn't look exactly as it does in the sig pic, I will have to change that when I can get a new pic of my car onto the pc, worked out pretty good.
 
I'm sorry for the confusion, around here is southern Oregon. I do sell parts on occasion and shipping is something you probably don't want to do. I would imagine that I could drive a bit and find one more locally.

I guess I should have specified by local that I meant within an hour of my house or so.

Thanks for the offer though, I do appreciate it.

ROB
 
Lots of options open to you if you don't mind straying from the "Mopar or no car..." mindset.

Rearends from Ford Granadas, Mavricks and Rangers are almost direct bolt ins and there are plenty of these cheap in every junkyard. Some early Mustangs too.

Rearends from Fox Body Mustang will also work. Be sure to get the 5-lug one and most of these are posi's.

Rearend from Thunderbird turbo coupes will give you posi AND disc brakes, but you gotta swap axles with those from a Ranger and cut off the 4-link stuff, but that's easy. Auto Turbo-birds have 3.90 and 5-spds have 3.55 ratios.

Look underneath & measure - Ford Exploders (Explorers) and Jeep Libertys


All of these are 4.5" bolt pattern and require the "special NAPA universal joint but can be done easily. Some to be had $50 or so...


Good luck,
49T&C
 
Make sure that if you get a rear from a late Mustang, T-Bird or Ranger that it isn't a 7.5". The 8.8" is stronger and there are a lot more parts available for them. I forget how to tell the difference easily, maybe someone else knows?
 
Hello again,

I am actually too pragmatic to be a Mopar only guy on a rear axle. Being a 4x4 builder by nature, I did a quick search and found lots of information on 8.8's for real reasonable, most between $150-250.00 with 3.73's and some with disks.

I like that, the next question is what year for what track widths? Anyone have a link with pics to a build-up using one?

I discovered that I have an 8" in an older Jeep that is 2wd. It was a "hot rod" back some time ago and may have what I am looking for. My understanding has been that they 8" is almost a dead drop in deal.

Thanks for the advice, off to look for track widths.

Thanks again, ROB
 
Hey Rob not to steer you away from this site, but you want to check out moparts.com. I have seen quite a few 8 3/4 rears go for pretty cheap there. You may be surprised of how people that are local selling parts.

You also might want to look on Ebay. I also have seen them on there. But if you just are looking locally then you might have a problem finding one.

You could find a B Body 8 3/4 and have it shortened.

Hope that helps!
 
I put a 8 1/4 from a Volare which has the iso-mounts anyway so you can make any width for the mounts. Factory width for my 64 flange to flange was 53.2 volare was 54.34 so 1.14 inches wider is not to bad to split on either side so just a hair over 1/2 inch per side. I got the measurements from my now worn out Chrysler performance upgrades book. The best money ever spent.
 
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