Rear End Narrowing ?s

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'64 Cuda

'64 Cuda

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I have an 8 3/4" Sure Grip. I haven't had the pig out in 30 years so my memory of the internals is very vague at best. When switching from tapered bearings to green bearings the thrust block is no longer necessary, right? Would this allow for the axles to be pushed into the housing a bit farther before they are limited by the splines in the diff?

What I'm getting at is, would it be possible to switch to green bearings, eliminate the thrust block, & then be able to have the housing narrowed slightly to get perfect centering of the wheels in the tubs, without altering the splined end of the axles? How much further could they be pushed in before problems would occur? 1/4" per side? 1/2"? Am I totally off in my thinking? I want to keep my SBP & probably would require very little narrowing to make things work.
 
Intereresting question, I would look at the wear marks on the axle splines. This should give you a good idea of how much further the axles could slide into the differential. I would think 1/4 to 1/2 would work. You might try sliding the axles into third member after you have removed it and measure your total axle width after you have slid the axles in as far as you think it is safe. You are right about removing spacer with green bearings, it is not needed.
 
I have been doing some research of my own by using the search tool here on FABO. I have found that the thrust block has to be removed in order for the green bearings to be used. From what I have found is that if you put one axle in one side all the way up to to the flange and put the other axle in the thrust block will hold you out 1/4". So from basic understanding if you remove the thrust block then each axle will go in 1/8" more wouldn't it?
If all you want to do is to be able to use the green bearings then you should be alright. I am waiting for my friend to weld up my perches since I have installed offset shackles and hangers and in the mean time I will be ordering Yukon axles with the green bearings and 3" studs pressed in to place. I will have to remove the third member and remove the thrust block before I can install the new axles. I was going to remove the third member anyways to check everything out and might go with 4.10 gears.
 
I installed green bearings on my sons swinger without removing the spacer but I have heard of others having trouble. You could remove some of the end of the axle but I wonder if there would be drum clearance issues when they are installed.
 
If you want to center your wheels better, wouldn't it be better to get wheels with a different backspacing? Or make your existing wheel wider, but only on the inside.
That would save you a lot of trouble for the 1/2" of narrowing the axle. Plus you would be using green bearings which will probably not hold on as long as your tapered bearings.
Just my 2 cents.

Antoon
 
Oh yeah right, But why was it on top of the list? Oh I think I know, I must have pressed a wrong button.
I'm such a magician with computers:cheers:

Antoon
 
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