Before I ask the question let me say that I am already well aware of the "better" options of drive train combos. I'm just looking for opinions on this particular setup. I have a stock 59 Chevy pickup. 235/3pd + stock rear. You know this means cruising the fwy at 55 - 60mph tops. I may have a FREE rearend from a 82 Chevy truck. I can drop it in easily and at no cost. This is good. My question is..... Are there any benefits to dropping in the 82 rearend behind the stock 235/3spd? Would the rearend alone allow me better cruising speeds? I will eventually go with a better trans and stuff, but I may not have the time or money for a while. On the other hand, I can drop in the newer (82) rearend for nothing and in no time. So does this rearend make hwy cruising (or street driving) any easier/worse? Is this pointless or is there some incremental benefit? Thank for reading
It's about 1.5 inches wider. I'm not planning running any thing but stock wheels so everything will still fit neatly under the rear fenders. It'll be a little wider but it will work. The bolt pattern is 5 lug so that's a plus.
It depends on the gearing in the "newer" rear end. If the numbers are higher the gearing will be lower and you'll be making things worse. I have a 57 Chevy Truck that came with the 235 and a three speed behind and had no problems doing 70-75 miles and hour on the freeway in it. It had the stock 3.88 rear end and still does. Put dual carbs on it, and rebuild the trans. ( It might pop out of gear in high, ruined a motor because of this... and has a big block now...) To make a long story short I would'nt swap it. -Seth
You've most likely got 3.90:1 gears in the stock rear end. Pull the cover on the '82 rear and see what it's got. If it's 3.73:1, it wouldn't be worth the bother, but if it's 3.42:1, you'd definitely benefit from it at modern highway speeds. I had an '81 C-10 that had 2.73:1 gears in it---a 235 won't pull anything that light, so see what you've got before doing anything.
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