Cut down housing question

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68BarracudaTT

68BarracudaTT

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I have a B-Body 8 3/4 housing that was cut down to A-Body length, however it is measuring 52 1/2”, and searching around it should be 52 5/8”. Does that 1/8” matter when ordering axles, or can I go with standard length?

This was sitting around my parents house for a while, so I don’t know who did the work. It looks to be in good shape, and I would like to use it in my Barracuda with offset spring hangers; I don’t want to cut the perches off the one in the car.
 
You could have 2 x 1/16" thick spacers made and put on before the backing plates and axles.
 
That’s a good idea making some spacers, I would think just under 1/16 if I need to double up on gaskets?
 
Will 1/8" of engagement really make difference ? Is this a full effort drag car or a driver ?
 
This will be a track car, planning a 3rd gen hemi for power. The doctor Diff axles are only like $20 different between standard and custom lengths, but wouldn’t the adjusters be able to handle some tolerance? I can’t imagine all the axles were exactly 52 5/8”.
 
68BarracudaTT said:
This will be a track car, planning a 3rd gen hemi for power. The doctor Diff axles are only like $20 different between standard and custom lengths, but wouldn’t the adjusters be able to handle some tolerance? I can’t imagine all the axles were exactly 52 5/8”.
Click to expand...
Dr.diff are good as well
 
In that case order the custom axles and backbrace the housing . Might want to check the housing for straightness....
 
Thank you all for the input. Custom axles make sense for the price difference, and a back brace will be ordered at the same time.

now if Doctor Diff can gets some parts in stock…
 
Spool or clutch style or cone style unit. Also green roller bearing style or factory tapered axle bearings with adjusters. This would all make a difference.
 
This could also depend on how accurately the housing was narrowed, ie if one side got cut down a smidge more than the other side... not sure how you could measure to find out. Possibly by measuring from a fixed point on a known good housing; like one of the center section studs, out to the outside of the housing flange- then compare those measurements to the narrowed housing. The difference should be equal on each side. Then you can order your axles, hopefully you wouldn't need 2 different length axles.
 
The plan is a torsen style differential with the factory style taper bearings. Looking at the pictures of the sure trac II it looks to have a dead end in the middle, so I’m not sure how you adjust out all the bearing play.
 
With tapered bearings , the adjuster should handle it. If not, spacers are easy to make. I put mine between the backing plates and the flange. Mine are .25 soft aluminum. They do not have to be accurate. Make sure the inner seal is on the polished seal-way.
 
Professor Fate said:
This could also depend on how accurately the housing was narrowed, ie if one side got cut down a smidge more than the other side... not sure how you could measure to find out. Possibly by measuring from a fixed point on a known good housing; like one of the center section studs, out to the outside of the housing flange- then compare those measurements to the narrowed housing. The difference should be equal on each side. Then you can order your axles, hopefully you wouldn't need 2 different length axles.
Click to expand...

I found a housing measuring tool on Dr. Diffs website. With my overall housing length, it said from the center of one of the studs to the flange it should 21.495" they both measure 21.5" (I can't exactly measure to the thousandth of an inch with a tape measure) so it was cut down evenly.

Anyone in the Raleigh area want to help me check the straightness?
 
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