anyone ever narrow a 55-64 chevy rear?

Why don't you use 9" Ford axles and housing ends? The axles have plenty of metal that can be cut down and resplined. And you have to weld ends back on the axle tubes. If the 9" ends are too big, find a housing end that will work and have the bearing surface turned down it necessary.

 

well first rear end i broke was my old mans' new 56 chevy R/E. That was a rather ugly event in my life. When I told him the next morning at breakfast he didnt even look up. He just said 'take me to work and fix it before I come home'. ??? I learned how to change spider gears that day. thats why we use 9 inchers today.

 

You should be able to buy complete, good S10 rears for under $100 drum to drum (or disc to disc) from a you pull it yard - for that money, I'd buy a couple and not be afraid to break them. The 2WD one is pretty narrow -

 

I narrowd the rear end in my 62 Impala no big deal pm me we can chat about it

 

The right axle is 1-3/8 inch longer than the left, not worth cutting the housing to shorten only that much.

 

Why don't you use 9" Ford axles, have them shortened and resplined and weld 9" Ford housing ends on the ends of your axle tubes ? That seems like the cheapest thing to do. And you can get disc brake setups from ECI or other companies that will use GM rotors, calipers, etc. Used 9" axles and housing ends are cheap.

 

hell you would be beter off with a toyota truck rearend than a stock one. the guys hopping those old impala's ****can the stock rearends for toyota truck ones. they have larger diameter axles than a 9" ford plus they are cheap.

 

• what year range and model for the Toyota truck rear ends?

 

Just because you have a few rear ends to play with doesn't make it a good idea. As another poster pointed out, you can easily break the tri five rear ends with a stock inline six.

Take the correct route and build a rear gear setup that will handle any power combination you come up with, either a Ford 9" or 8.8" will do the job and probably cost less than trying to build a '55 that will hold up.

Just my opinion and worth what it cost.

 

I have, when I tubbed my 56. I cut the ends off each tube and shortened it 3" ea. side. Welded the ends back on. Then I used the small bearing ( same size dia. as the Chevy bearing) Ford axle 28 spline and the Ford side gears in the carrier. I had to put the side gears in a lathe and take off 80 thousands from the back of each gear. Then they fit right in my Chevy carrier same 10 teeth same OD fit perfect after thinning them up. I had to send the axles to Moser to shorten them and re-spline them since they were way to long but after he shortened them they fit perfect. I ran it that way for years. My car had a 56 Chevy original housing with ford axles and side gears . In fact I still have that rear somewhere around here. Try it...




UOTE="indawaitinroom, post: 5492711, member: 34971"]okay this is mostly brainstorming, but im considering narrowing one of the two 55 chevy rears i have kicking around

ive searched for axles but no one seems to be offering them, so i looked into resplining, no dice, i did happen to find a place that converts these rears to 30 spline dana 44 axles, which im sure moser would make me any length i need, its just that this conversion "kit" costs roughly $1300-$1600

and damn thats not worth it... anyone else ever sucessfully pulled this off?[/QUOTE]
ed my 56
d

 

I picked up a rear a few years ago just for the chuck.....the housing was the chevy center with olds tubes/ends grafted on - the olds axles were cut down and resplined to the chevy spline - it was really crude, but had a p case posi in it....

 

I got the Axles from Moser

 

New Eaton posi unit has the chrome molly spiders in 17 spline and if you get Moser axles to the correct length you'll be good because the pinion climbing the ring gear will fail before the posi or the axles. Drivers side cap will need a support on the center or it will break. 8.5/10 bolt Blazer would be the way to go. Stock they are near the strength of the 12 bolt. Parts are cheap and plentiful.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/19686-010-E...ial-/361079235235?hash=item5411ffe2a3&vxp=mtr

 

The 55-56, and the 62-64 Nova/Chevy II both used third members that were made of thinner material and/or used smaller bearings, so stay away from using those. The 55-56 rear end housings did not have a drain plug, and used thinner axles bearings. It would be better to use a 57 on housing as they used larger axle bearings, and the 57 had a drain plug. I'm sure any axle manufacturer could make up a set of axles for a narrowed rear end. Usually, when these rear ends were narrowed, they also used Olds/Pont ends so modified Olds/Pont axles could be used. It's also the left/drivers side bearing cap that gets replaced or strengthed using straps; that side has a tendency to be pushed backwards, breaking the cap. Aubrey Bruneau used to have spools and the MOPAR conversion setups, but they are no longer listed on his online site (Bruneau Performance.Ca). This is an older thread, and I'm sure the OP has already found his way with the rear end, but the info is here for those who might need it. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

62-3 nova had a removable carrier. i put a 57 chevy chunk in my 63 nova. the nova axle takes the same bearing as the 57.. [ can you use nova axle in your rear housing?]