1968 Dart sudden rear end noise.

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Washington Dart said:
Where do you live? I have a 7.25 complete. Come and take it, free. They are everywhere cheap, if you don't beat your car just swap one out. Same bolt pattern straight swap. Good luck.
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I appreciate the offer and would love to take you up on it. I'm in California though.
 
missing linc said:
Best plan right there.^^^^^^^^
If nothing else you'd have a lot of spare parts for future use.
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If anyone is socal has one that's in good shape and ready to go cheap,I agree it would be the best/easiest solution. Hopefully the gearing would be the same. Think mine has 2.94 gears.
 
1968 Dart 270 said:
If anyone is socal has one that's in good shape and ready to go cheap,I agree it would be the best/easiest solution. Hopefully the gearing would be the same. Think mine has 2.94 gears.
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They do come up fairly often, check the classifieds on the site, usually free or really cheap.
 
missing linc said:
If your existing differential is not repairable, or too costly to fix, a b body 8.75 or 8.25, or a Ford 8.8 from a Ranger pickup, or an Explorer are also options, with varying costs involved. The Ranger will have 28 spline axles and drum brakes, and the Explorer will have disc brakes, 31 spline axles, a Trac lok differential and either 3.73 or 4.10 gears. Both Ford differentials will also have 5 on 4.5 bolt circles.
Best suggestion I can make is to first find out if you can repair what you have, then do a whole lot of research on the subject. There are threads on the subject here on the forum.
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Would a b body 8.25 be a direct swap? What rear ends are there that are an exact fit without modifying anything?
 
AJ/FormS said:
only the 66 and earlier ones. IIRC they are an inch wider on the perches, and an inch wider on the track-width, which seems to be close enough.
But my memory may not be all that accurate.
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Isn't there also an 8 1/4 and 8 3/4" that would fit the 1968 dart without any modifications. Didn't some a bodies come with the 8 3/4"? Is the 7 1/4" sure grip more durable that the standard?
 
Oh chit, I read B-body 8.75
and immediately went to 66 Coronet.
But
To answer your question, all A-bodies from 67 to 76 or so, will have rearends that swap any which way you like, except with various proviso's like;
Driveshaft length, tube diameters, size of brakes, and where exactly the the rear flexible brake-line mounts. But
any rear will physically drop onto the springs in the right location, and then begins the hook-ups.
 
AJ/FormS said:
Oh chit, I read B-body 8.75
and immediately went to 66 Coronet.
But
To answer your question, all A-bodies from 67 to 76 or so, will have rearends that swap any which way you like, except with various proviso's like;
Driveshaft length, tube diameters, size of brakes, and where exactly the the rear flexible brake-line mounts. But
any rear will physically drop onto the springs in the right location, and then begins the hook-ups.
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Ok, is there an 8 1/4" rear (since those are better than the 7 1/4" but cheaper than the 8 3/4") that will drop in with NO modifications. I do NOT want to monkey around with driveshafts or anything else. It's for a stock daily driver and I just want to get it back on the road and be reliable. I don't want the car in my garage for a year as a project. I basically want to buy a good used one bring it home and put it in the same day. If there isn't then I'll just look for someone with a good cheap used 7 1/4" with 2.94 gears
 
1968 Dart 270 said:
Don't know. Haven't pulled inspection cover yet. Is this a common failure point on these?
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It happened on my 8 3/4 open rear years ago...the way you describe the noise sounds similar but my noise was very loud resonated through the driveshaft to the 4 speed shifter, I thought it was in the trans at first but I turned my head and the angle of my ear indicated it was coming from behind. Id say if you don't find anything in the drums check the diff. If you don't want to go in right away you can put the rear on stands turn the rear tires in neutral see if you hear anything that way...or if you want start it up and put it in gear let the wheels spin while up off the ground etc.
 
AJ/FormS said:
If yur depressed now, you haven't been;
> 500 miles from home, with an engine that is overheating for no apparent reason.
> 300 miles from home, with your A833 is stuck in Fourth gear,
> 200 miles from home, when at 60mph, the engine just quit running,
> 100 miles from home, on a Sunday afternoon, with a derailed fanbelt
> 70 miles from home, you hit a dear, at night, and yur headlights are smashed.
> in your driveway, you wife askes you a question, that you cannot answer with any degree of honesty; you know, one of those questions like;
- does this dress make me look fat? or
- how long have you been poking the neighbors daughter, or
- you love this car more than me, don't you.
> or my favorite; you think I'm stupid!?

Did you leave the parking brake on?
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Sounds like the lyrics for a country song...
 
missing linc said:
Smallest rear axle in a b body was 8.25 to the best of my knowledge. The 7.25 was a very light duty piece that would last forever behind a slant 6, but it doesn't live as long with a V8, even a bone stock 273 or 318 has enough torque to wear it out. Lots of a bodies had 8.25 differentials, but I am pretty sure they were all big bolt pattern, which of course presents a new problem in that your 68 is likely small bolt pattern axles.
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My wife bought the car from her mom which was a 69 Dodge Charger 318 automatic. The car was originally a Missouri rental car. It had a 7.25 rear end.
 
to answer your questions on drop in, no muss, no fuss rear ends:

any a-body 7.25 from 65~76 will drop in, with the caveat that rear ends from 73~75 darts *must* be from drum brake cars, because they will be the correct bolt pattern.

a-body 8.25 rear ends from 73+ are big bolt pattern, they will drop in but you'll need to either run adapters or get new wheels to make that work.

a-body 8.75 rear ends are all small bolt pattern and drop right in.

for any of these, you may need to modify your driveshaft (shorten or change u-joint) and for the 8.25/875 you'll need the correct shock plates and u-bolts because the axle tube is bigger.

i'm in socal, i have rear ends and can help. PM me if you like.
 
AJ/FormS said:
only the 66 and earlier ones. IIRC they are an inch wider on the perches, and an inch wider on the track-width, which seems to be close enough.
But my memory may not be all that accurate.
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they're actually about 3" wider WMS, but you are correct in that they're only 1" wider on the perches.

which some people fake it by just pushing in the springs. but that's some back yard hackery bobo ****.

so you need really deep backspaced rims to run them on our cars. not an ideal situation for this dude.
 
1968 Dart 270 said:
Ok, is there an 8 1/4" rear (since those are better than the 7 1/4" but cheaper than the 8 3/4") that will drop in with NO modifications. I do NOT want to monkey around with driveshafts or anything else. It's for a stock daily driver and I just want to get it back on the road and be reliable. I don't want the car in my garage for a year as a project. I basically want to buy a good used one bring it home and put it in the same day. If there isn't then I'll just look for someone with a good cheap used 7 1/4" with 2.94 gears
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Answer, no.
The 7.25 has the longest driveshaft.
Th 8.25 and the 8.75, some say can run the same driveshaft, but I had to move springs back on one swap. and this driveshaft is shorter anyway than a 7.25.
IMO you are just pissing in the wind, until you go look.
chances are that all you need is a case and the guts, and with a back cover, the swap goes out an in, in about an hour and change. It'll take you almost that long just to get the back jacked up high enough to shimmy under.
 
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