Here is the situation. I just picked up a complete 9in to put under my 55. It is a small bearing, 28spline, open carrier out of an early bronco. I have an extra 3rd member from one of my narrowed rearends that has a 31spline track lock. I want power at both wheels, and do enough street driving that a spool or mini spool is not practical. Soooooo, My options are new 31 spline small bearing axles since these are hard to find in a wrecking yard, or a 28 spline locker/track lock/etc. I have been looking for either option used to save a little cash with no luck. Then I had a thought today, can I change the spiders in the 31spline track lock to 28spline and if so, does anyone know of a good supplier for these? Advice, comments, suggestions, flaming, stoning, or flogging are all welcome!
Not sure on the parts interchange but, new Moser axles are 500 bucks shipped with studs and bearings installed. The track lock runs around 350 plus shipping and you still have to install it or pay to get it installed with your current 28 spline gears.
How Much Sickem are you going to put to it. Mini spool It $ 25. 00 Get the hardend pin also. they drag tire a bit on tight turns. squell tire. butt fine in a line. 28 spline are strong enuff for street tire & Auto. We Used to run high 12s on welded carriers with small slicks. no axle breaks. spiders would break first. Or See Bronco Axles on E Bay / I have allways used spools on street you just have a squeeky out side tire. on turns. with open Headers and You Cant even hardly hear it HAHA ! And By All Mean's FloGG It
NEVER run a spool/locked rear on the street. It cost me more than $12,000.00 to learn the lesson. Insurance company won't cover you in an accident. "Knowingly operating a defective vehicle" BEEN THERE!! I went from a 31 spline trac lock to a 28 for my current project. Changed the side gears in unit. There are several places on Ebay that sell the side gears and clutch packs at reasonable prices.. Bought my axles from another dealer on there from the northwest. $210.00 +35.00 shp. for pair. My housing is only 44" wide and these axles have 8" of spline on them. Cut off excess and they work great. Plus they have three bolt patterns. Leadmine products also has axles at reasonable prices.
Sell that bronco rearend to a hot rodder and get another one from a ford truck from 57-maybe late 60s. The bronco rearend is nice an narrow for hot rods and the truck one would fit perfect under your truck. All you have to do is go to a junk yard and you will find oone.
Heres what I would do ....depending on If you have the 31 spline axles and the housing fits I'd put big ends on the housing. Trade your 31 center for a 28 center Sell all of it and get the right stuff thats what you need In that order.
I don't know where you are located in Texas but I have a 9" Super Duty rear end from a '79 Ranchero laying on my shop floor you can have for $150. It has the Daytona carrier, big bearings and big finned drums. Gear ratio is 2.47:1. I picked it up to have on hand for a future project. I am in Porter, Tx. just North of Houston.
are you going to put this rear in a 55 chevy truck? if so, I can think of better ones to start with...like was mentioned, sell the bronco rear to someone with a 30s ford hot rod, it fits them nice.
If I wasn't 2800 miles a way I'd be offering to take that early Bronco rear end off your hands cash in hand. Unless you plan to run some deep rims it is probably a bit narrow for the Chevy anyhow.
Squirrel- why would you reccomend finding another rearend to start with? Due to this one being a little narrower? Aaggie- that sounds like a good deal, I'm assuming it's an open diff? 31 vicky- good plan of attack, I have some 31 splines but they have been cut down for my old o/t door slammer Thanks all for the replys, I only thought I had my options nailed down! Glad I posted this.
Plus this rear has a more common bolt pattern as compared to the 5 X 5 1/2 of the bronco. I would take him up on that one if you are close enough to make it happen. With that being said I do like using the early bronco rears, got two cars with them plus a spare.
Check ebay theres 31 spline bronco axles for $310 a set. I have a long side 29 inch axle but it's big bearing for $80.
I'm not real concerned with bolt pattern since I will be converting whatever I end up using to 6 lug. Best case scenario is I can find someone who wants to swap a 28 spline track lock for my 31 spline. Might just throw this up on the classifieds and take Aaggie up on his offer. I could use a little road trip.
I don't think you will be able to re-drill a 5 lug to a 6 lug. However you could re-dril the ford to chevy pattern, then swap to chevy car backing plates and drums up front to get the same pattern all the way around.
Well, you have quite a mixture of issues here. I, too, think the early Bronco rear end is too narrow for your Chevy truck. However, IF you are going to convert to 6 lugs, you are halfway there with the Bronco axles as they are 5 1/2 bolt circle, same as your Chevy six lug axles. Meaning, the flanges are of sufficient diameter to work with the Chevy pattern. Without doing a detailed drawing or some math, I don't know how the lug spacing would work out.......but the diameter is right. The Chevy rear end is about 62" wide as I recall. I have one of those big Torino axle assemblies, and as I recall, it is about 65" wide. Not very swap friendly at that dimension. A Ford Pickup assembly from '73 to '86 is closer to right than anything mentioned so far. Also has the 5 1/2 bolt circle. Ray
Hnstray- the larger bolt circle is what sold me on using this rearend. Overall length is just about 58", while stock for my truck is about 62". That is an overall difference of 4" which means I will loose 2" on each side. With the wheel backspacing I have now this looks possibe. It appears that everyone who has a 9in that is the right dimension for an easy swap knows exactly what they have and demand enough money for them that in the end, it would be cheaper to go with a built to suit unit from someone like Mark Williams or the like. I am notorious for diving into a venture like this with the intent of doing it as cheap as I can(by cheap I mean less money spent and by no means a lesser quality of work or inferior parts). I used to just buy everything I needed and not worry about the cost as much as getting it done. Then I got sick of looking back and realizing several ways that I could have saved a bunch of money had I done it differently.
Prime- I have been looking at the powertrax, looks like a viable option. Have you personaly ran one? If so, how do you like it?
ive heard good things.Like a detroit locker posi when you want it,freewheeling when you dont.It's a stronger option than a trak-lok no friction plates to slip disengages when going around corners can take alot of power too.
Just got off the phone with Currie. All I need to convert my 31spline t-loc to a 28 spline are the two side gears and the clutch hub. At a total cost of $132.85. That sounds too good to pass up. This way I can keep my 28 spline open third member bagged up and ready to go in if I accidently gut the trac-loc.
fiveoh- I read both posts, I was asking Squirrel what HIS specific reasoning was for saying that. Bottom line, Squirrel knows his shit. I look foward to him posting on my threads and value his opinion very much. Not to discount others opinions but he is very knowledgeable especialy when it comes to tri-five setups be it a car or a pickup. In his post he even gave you credit for what you had posted in#6. I am sorry that I did not specifically reply to you as I did others, didn't mean to leave you out. It is not that what you said is not a valid response, it was just not a peice of info I did not already have. In the end, this thread was not really about will this rearend fit my truck. It was about should I buy axles, a new center section, or can I convert the 31 spline trac-loc to a 28. I got answers to all three. Thanks to everyone who posted. P.S. I need to come out to Napa to check out the junk yards if 9"'s are that plentiful there. Most of the ones around here that wil actually let you buy parts have been picked clean.
No worries man, I was giving you a hard time. As for 9"s out here there are still tons of 60's-70's cars/trucks being used every day in california so there are plenty of them in the junkyards as well. The weather doesnt get to them out here like in other states.
If the Bronco rear will fit your offset, the $132 sounds like good deal for you. If not, a common trick is to buy a 9" rears and cut the long side for fit the short axle out of a second rear. you would only actually need a truck 9" and an additional short axle. The Bronco rear is a desireable size for a lot of swaps and could be sold easily. 28 spline trac loc's are less common and bring higher prices than 31 splines where I am so guys can swap into their existing car axle.
fiveoh- it's getting hard to find a yard that will even let you in. They just pull what they think people will want and keep it all behind the counter. Then they crush the rest. Then when you go in looking for a part, if you cant give them an exact make and model they just say "we don't have those". However I hear there is a new pick and pull yard that is not to far from me. Who knows, I just may go check it out before I get to far in one direction with the 9" I have. indy- that's not a bad idea, mabey this new pick and pull will have a set. If there is a demand for 28 spline t-loc's, might pick up some 31splines and convert them to 28. Mabey turn a little coin in the process.
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