Rear Axle for A-Body

[peelo57]

Hello.
this is my first post in this forum.
I Got my 72 duster last winter and i have been driving it this summer.
Goes and drives wery well....



But the 7 1/4 rear axle is dying. Now i have been looking bigger rear axle for my car. I live in Finland so i have much less old axels where to choose from.

So my question is this. what rear have you been swapping to your cars?
I know that some have used fords 8.8 rear from explorers and mopar B-body cars rears (and some guys here have been using toyotas hilus/hiace rears, but these have too high gear ratios to me)

So can you tell me what other car models i have to bee looking for to find new rear? like ford explorer. Other ofroaders? jeeps?

And i you have done some weir axle swap on your car can you tell how it worked and woh much customizin you had to to

 

[360duster]

Hi Peelo,

greetings from Germany up north!

i had to make the same decision, built a 408 for my slant six / 7,25" axle equipped Valiant. Engine is done, will be in next spring.

Thought about a 8,25" but even this one is rarely available here, could get one from a jeep but then it still needs a lot of attention = money....

Then i thought about a Dana 44 from a Opel Frontera. Good Axle in my opinion, but the length is different and they use six bolts to attach the wheels - so custom axles is a must have....expensive.

I ended up with a Explorer 8.8, in my opinion best solution if money counts (if not i´d get a new 8,75").

Got this axle for 250 Euro from a parts car, 3,73 Gears and Limited Slip in good working condition. Got another one with open diff 4,11 Gears and complete Disk Brake setup for 100 Euro. Shortened the long side according the 8.8 Thread here, used the short axle from the second one i bought. New bearings, new mopar spring pads.....we´ll see how it works.

I think this is the best and cheapest solution to get a decent axle.

Hope this helps!

Michael

 

[peelo57]

thanks for the reply

looks like the explorers axle is best alternative for the mopar orginal axles.
And on positive side i can get rear discs at same prize if i find newer axle.

Looks like 8.8 axles aftermarket parts are quite cheap so if i get axle witch have high gear ratio i can change it for lower. I dont have OD so closer to 3. would be nice

 

[peelo57]

Well i found one.
98 explorer 3.72 gear ratio, limited slip and discs brakes...
But the prize was 700€ :wack:

well i live in finland and here everything is too expensive...


So what other parts i need for this swap?
other shorter side axle
special u-joint
brake parts?
anything else?

can i use normal leaf spring location?
And do i need to shorten drive shaft to get it fit? (i have 904 gearbox)

 

[360duster]

Hi Peelo,

look for a collision damaged car, sometimes they are really cheap! Don´t buy the first one you find. Did you buy this one?

Of course you will need another short side axle, and i´m sure you will have the driveshaft shortened.

Try to get the Explorer driveshaft, they use a flange to connect to the axle. Explorer uses a 1330 U-Joint, so you will need a conversion joint from the one your existing driveshaft uses (7260 or 7290) to the 1330 joint. check dennysdriveshaft.com for conversion joints.

Stock Spring location will work, you just have to put new spring pads (according to the original ones on your old axle) on the 8.8. Mine were around 40 Euro.

I use the complete Ford disc brake setup, no special parts.

Michael

 

[clhyer]

Hello Peelo, and welcome aboard!
I swapped my axle out for one from an M body Plymouth. It is a couple inches wider, I had to move the spring perches. I also put a 1/2" (1.2 cm?) spacer block in front of the front leaf spring hanger. Doing so pretty much centered the tires in the wheel well. It looks good on my Duster.
BTW - nice looking Duster you have there:cheers:
C

 

[dodge freak]

love seeing these old cars in the snow, reminds me of the good old days back in high school. it was fun driving in the snow but back then they were cheap and plentiful to find

you might be right about using a 3 ratio, i got 3.91's and works great but gas miles is the pits and your fuel is like 2X as much, yuck

 

[peelo57]

didn't buy that axle.
i am fine with 8 1/4 if i find one.
If B bodys axles also fit in duster i have to start looking for those also.
yep i dont want to go too much over 3.00 gear ratio i have 2,7 now and it gets me about 20 MPG.
Gas here cost about 1,6€ per liter.
that's about 8 dollars per gallon

well i am not in hurry i have winter to find new axle.
that picture was taken last winter, just got the car from california, had to try it. works well in -20c and it was fun

 

[sag]

I may be off the subject but gotta say the car looks nice with the snow in the backround