Quote:
Originally Posted by 67 chevelle
You can get a ford explorer rear , with an extra drivers side axil and tube to widen , fairly easy modification , cheep , and bullet prof , plus you get possi and disc brakes , opposite of what you would do for a camaro , pasenger side axil and cut the tube , to narrow
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I have a Nine inch out of a Ford car sitting there complete with the big drum brakes that I can have narrowed pretty easily.
From my experience in the past if you run a Spicer style rear axle and you loose a wheel bearing you quite often loose and axle too as the bearing rollers ride on the surface of the axle. I don't plan on drag racing this time around with the six but want to have a pretty well bullet proof truck with most every part in it easy to get and repair if it fails on the road. There is always someone in most every town no matter how small that can press a wheel bearing on a Ford axle and get you gone in short order if you loose a wheel bearing. You might not find that odd size axle if you need it and end up stuck for more than just a few hours. Plus if for some reason I did loose the third member on the road I could find a workable replacement in about any wrecking yard of any size and go again with the 9 inch. It might not be the gear ratio I want but in a matter of hours I'd be on the road again.
Thinking about it I've had 4 rear axles under the 48 since I first built it in 1973. 61 Chev Car, 67 Camaro, 66 Impala 12 bolt posi (worked great) and the current mid 70's Nova. I think I've replaced about 4 wheelbearings in that time frame and one axle. The axle was in the rear that is under it now when the bearing ate a groove in the axle.
Actually, this time around I'm working at using common and easy to replace parts in places that there may be a parts failure due to wear or road damage on road trips. The trick parts are great for bragging rights but having to wait several days until the brown truck brings a red label package to the side of the road motel you are stuck in because of a parts failure and no available replacement part at the local parts house or wrecking yard that will get you on the road again can ruin a major road trip. First planned road trip for the 48 this time starts out with a 2500 mile one way shot to Central Texas and hopefully several states past that after that before we return home with between 10 and 15 K new miles on the truck from that road trip