It has finally stopped friggin' raining around here long enough to get some stuff done!
So the 1972 cab has been sitting on the 1969 frame for quite some time. I needed to swap out the Eaton posi-traction unit and 3.73's in the '72 housing and put it in the '69 housing. I bought Moser axles to fit the stock length of the '69 but it has 5 lugs instead of 6. I will be swapping over the 5 lug stuff up front too.
So I pull the pan off of the rear end and what do I spy? A stock posi-traction unit in there! Schwiiing!
So I rotate the ring gear and it is stamped 11:41. Hmm... divide 11 into 41 and it equals... 3.72777777777.
3.73's! I counted the teeth just to be shore and I'm delighted as hell! I only read about cats getting that lucky with this kind of stuff. What were the odds of that rear end in the frame I bought having a posi-unit and the same gear ratio I have?
So I'm going to change the pinion seal, put new axle bearings in it and axle seals, and slide the Moser axles in it and call it a day. If it ever craps out on me I will always have my Eaton carrier and Richmond gears as a back up.
So saved me some serious time and money.
I pulled the drum brake backing plates (with all brake harware still attached) off of the '72 and bolted them with new grade 8 bolts to the '69 tubes. I had just put an entire new drum brake setup on the '72 only a couple months before I wrecked it. The parking brake cables appear to go directly into the stock holding brackets in the trailing arms of the '69. My '72 was leaf sprung so I'm hoping all that parking brake stuff will just swap over.
I'm also reusing all of the Inline Tube SS brake lines from the '72. I will have to fabricate up a new rear bracket to mount it from the frame of the '69, since I'm going to install either a Camaro or a Chevelle gas tank back there.
For now it's sitting back on the BFG's and ET slots bolted up. I have new axle bearings and seals on order so will have to pull the axles back out later on.
Anyways... heres a few pics of from the weekend. Don't mind the crack of my buddy's butt hanging out in the one pic...
Gary