oh no, is this 8.75 housing too bad?

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69MOPE said:
There is nothing wrong with that rear. Most housings are not straight. The ends being offset just means it was narrowed correctly with a jig. I narrow rears and this is correct. What I have done for customers for a great deal more cash, is, cut the ends off, jig it, then heat and straighten the tubes by heating and bending. This is very common on rears that have a back brace installed (harder to straighten). The centerline of the carrier does not care where the tubes are located but the centerline of the axle/bearing end is critical.
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It's not an issue of centerline here...it's an issue of oil seal fitment with the tapered bearings he is going to use. The axle may be true to the centerline, but the seal is located in the housing. It'll be a leaky mess.
Besides the point, I've seen housings narrowed with a slight amount of overlap to make up for a slight bend, but what he's got there is huge. If it was that far off, it should have been tossed.
 
any reasonably large machine shop can fix that, no problem.
 
whitepunkonnitro said:
It's not an issue of centerline here...it's an issue of oil seal fitment with the tapered bearings he is going to use. The axle may be true to the centerline, but the seal is located in the housing. It'll be a leaky mess.
Besides the point, I've seen housings narrowed with a slight amount of overlap to make up for a slight bend, but what he's got there is huge. If it was that far off, it should have been tossed.
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The seal shouldn't be a issue either, it presses into the same part the bearing slips into, not the actual "tube" I agree that it IS normal for the ends to be slightly off when narrowing, but that one is a LITTLE excessive....that being said, I would run that thing NO PROBEM!
 
The work is a little slopy but it could be straight and done with a jig. They should have corrected the bent tube before welding
the end on but It doesn't really have to be as long as the end is
true to the center bearings and the axle shafts dont rub
the tubes. I would put it together and if the axle turns free
a jig was likely used. It may work just fine functionally not so
much cosmetically.
 
Is this true, that the seal doesn't go into the tube? If that's the case, and it turns out to centered, then I might be ok. If not, then I would have to run green bearings instead. The axles turn just fine when it's all together. By hand, I can detect no binding or issues turning it. I talked to the seller and he is willing to press on green bearings for me to fix the axle, if that's what is needed, or whatever. We just need to figure out the real issue. I'm taking it to a shop this weekend to have it checked on a jig.
 
I was doubting myself so I went out and measured. The bearing and ring require 1.45", and the seal another .5". There's only 1.45" of space in the ends before it hits the axle tube, so yeah, the seals won't fit as it is.
 
killnine said:
I was doubting myself so I went out and measured. The bearing and ring require 1.45", and the seal another .5". There's only 1.45" of space in the ends before it hits the axle tube, so yeah, the seals won't fit as it is.
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Of course, for all I know they cut off part of the housing end or something, so I can't say for sure that the proper length of the housing end is 1.45", but that's what these are.
 
I shipped a housing to Moser once for narrowing and straightening. Came back and I have put over 100,000 miles on it. No issues. And it wasnt all that pricey. The waiting was the hard part. That and the border crossing.
Have you considered popping the cover off the little 7.25 to see whats going on in there? Maybe a tooth chip in there, just floating around looking to make trouble?
Or a rental car?
Dont forget the brake backing plates will add some install space.But yeah, not enough if youre 1/2 inch short.
And the axles plus center spacer have a minimum axle flange to flange dimension that dictates the housing flange to flange distance with backing plates on.
 
hey killnine, I'm over here in moss point. I've got an 83/4 rear out of a 66 belvedere. it's about an inch or so longer than a dart on each side, but you can have it if it will help ya. dave.
 
Take it to some one that has a housing jig to see if the housing is straight.


This ^^^^
 
killnine said:
I was doubting myself so I went out and measured. The bearing and ring require 1.45", and the seal another .5". There's only 1.45" of space in the ends before it hits the axle tube, so yeah, the seals won't fit as it is.
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Looking at your pictures, it DOES look like they may have cut to much off the end....if that's the case, green bearings would still be ok.. I would STILL run that thing and not think twice.
 
replicaracer43 said:
Looking at your pictures, it DOES look like they may have cut to much off the end....if that's the case, green bearings would still be ok.. I would STILL run that thing and not think twice.
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Anyone know if green bearings go into the housing tubes normally or not. I would assume they aren't much longer than a tapered bearing, so I would think not. Anyone want to measure a standard housing end length for me? Just trying to clear some things up so I go into this with some knowledge over the next couple of days. Whitepunkonnitro is sending me reasonably priced housing ends in case I need them, and aaadave has kindly offered an early b-body rear if it helps. One way or the other this is getting taken care of.

aaadave, anyone you would recommend to do the jig work/welding/pressing I am going to be looking at doing? I called savage performance just down the road from me, and they work mostly on 9" fords, but it seems like they could do the work.
 
Thanks to whitepunkonnitro I got 'new' housing ends today. After looking at them, I see that the problem isn't the actual length as far as looking at my current ends from the outside goes, but that they cut them off and welded them on where they did. There is a ridge where the inside diameter gets smaller about 2" back or so. This makes sense with my math, 1.45" for the bearing and ring, and .5" for the seal to seat. The ones whitepunkonnitro sold me have lots of extra length, so this won't be a problem. Just in case anyone out there is narrowing an existing rear, don't cut off the ends so short you can't put a seal in it!
 
So someone please help me straighten out my brake situation. I got the rear end fixed, new housing ends on it, and it was all put centered on the jig, which is all good. Everything is in the car, and now I went to put the brake hardware on and everything is all wrong. I thought I had 1 3/4 size brakes, because I measured the friction surface on the drum, and it comes out to 2.25". All of the 10" x 2.5" brake drum measurements show that surface as much larger. So I assumed, which you know what that means, and I bought the 1 3/4" shoes. When I got everything on there it just didn't seem to fit quite right, and I did some checking and I guess you can measure the backing plate from the flat mounting surface to the pads where the shoes ride, and if it is the 2.5" that would be something over an inch or so, and if it were the normal a-body 1 3/4", it would be more like 15/32 or something like that. Well mine is clearly at least an inch, so now I'm thinking I have the backing plates for the 2.5" shoes? Anyhow, the problem then is that he gave me the drums that have the 2.25" friction surface. They have a bell type outer rim. So what did he give me? Did he give me a drum for 1 3/4" shoes and the backing plates for 2.5" shoes? I was supposed to be on the road Saturday. This is killing me. If anyone has any info that would help me determine one way or another what I need to do, it would be helpful. If I need to buy 2.5" drums, then I can do that, if I'm sure that's what I need (and new 2.5" shoes). Or is the information about the measuring of the backing plate wrong and I'm worried about nothing? -edit - Forgot to mention the axles measured 27 11/16 from tip to outside of flange, so the axles should be the proper length to match with the 10X1 3/4 backing plates right? So if I have 10X2.5" backing plates on there now, with the a-body length axles, will that be a problem if I try to match them with 2.5" shoes and drums? I believe that would be a problem, and if that's what he sold me as a working package, he was wrong, and I'm screwed. So I think I would have to then go and find the proper 1 3/4" backing plates, or get new axles, neither of which is going to happen in any quick amount of time. Can anyone confirm a definite way for me to tell one plate size from the other?
 
So I reviewed everything I could measure and that I know. Here's the breakdown:

Axles measure @27 11/16 end to end

2.3" hub register

offset approximately 2.25" from axle housing (where the axle mounts) to the outside wheel flange

the axles appear to be redrilled for large bolt pattern (the studs are pretty far out to the edge)

the drum register is a good fit

the drums have been redrilled for LBP, and were SBP to begin with

the friction surface of the drums is @ 2.3"

To me this all points to the drums and axles being 10 * 1 3/4, but I'm still trying to figure out how to tell for sure if my backing plates are correct or not for this. I think they might be 10 * 2.5" backing plates.
 
Trying to find the good in a bad situation. The guy who sold me the stuff thinks he found a set of the proper backing plates, and he's shipping them out. They won't get here in time for any of this rushing around trying to get the car together to have been worth it, but it's something. I would certainly rather not pay what most people are proud enough to want for them. Everyone has been really helpful with all of your suggestions and assistance while I learn the hard way all about the rear swap. I thought I paid a lot of money not to have to learn right now, but sometimes you pay for your lessons.
 
killnine said:
Trying to find the good in a bad situation. The guy who sold me the stuff thinks he found a set of the proper backing plates, and he's shipping them out. They won't get here in time for any of this rushing around trying to get the car together to have been worth it, but it's something. I would certainly rather not pay what most people are proud enough to want for them. Everyone has been really helpful with all of your suggestions and assistance while I learn the hard way all about the rear swap. I thought I paid a lot of money not to have to learn right now, but sometimes you pay for your lessons.
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That's the thing about screwing with cars. If you start real young, you can probably figure most of the angles and master all of the issues that pop, up on the fly...just in time to drop dead of old age.
 
Did you try the backing plates and drums off your 7 1/4"
I used the entire brake assembly of 1974 7 1/4" on my 8.75
I did use Dr Diff axles in mine $300, bolt on done deal.
 
killnine said:
Trying to find the good in a bad situation. The guy who sold me the stuff thinks he found a set of the proper backing plates, and he's shipping them out. They won't get here in time for any of this rushing around trying to get the car together to have been worth it, but it's something. I would certainly rather not pay what most people are proud enough to want for them. Everyone has been really helpful with all of your suggestions and assistance while I learn the hard way all about the rear swap. I thought I paid a lot of money not to have to learn right now, but sometimes you pay for your lessons.
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Hmmmm;sometimes you just need to look at the big picture.When you won't pay for an 8 3/4 original then you roll the dice.I have seen a bunch of people on here do the same thing-some work some dont.Good Luck!
 
sireland67 said:
Did you try the backing plates and drums off your 7 1/4"
I used the entire brake assembly of 1974 7 1/4" on my 8.75
I did use Dr Diff axles in mine $300, bolt on done deal.
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No I didn't think to try that. They were 9", but if they would have worked I would have been ok with that. It's something to think about though. When I get back if the ones he shipped don't work I'll give it a shot. I think it would at least need an extra hole drilled but the rest I'm not sure about.
 
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