Replacement rear ends for 69 dart?

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Stepper

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I know this topic is beaten to death. I've actually been researching it here for months. But, some of the details still elude me. Unfortunately, there's a bit of conflicting opinions. And I apologize if this is a ingorantly broad request.

I'd like to know which other vehicles' rear ends can be placed in a 69 dart GT, including year/make, etc.

I've read recently about people using ford 8.8s out of explorers, but having to cut the housing and changing axles...etc.

I'm looking for the simplest or least expensive replacement to achieve either the 8 3/4 or closest to it for the car.

I bought the car from someone who placed a 318 in it. The care was originally the smaller v8 (27x i believe), but it has the small 7 1/4 rear.

I plan to put a 360 in it and I know I'll need a different rear end in there to handle it.

Agan, I'm simply confused on what specifically to look for year-wise if I go to a salvage yard and look for other Mopar vehicles. Can I use later year A-body rear ends. Can I really use a b-body 8 3/4 as a direct bolt in and just re-weld the mounts...those type of details.

Again, I apologize if this is too broad, but after all of the reading-up on this, I'm still confused. I know you guys are a wealth of info, so I'm hoping I can get a concise answer.

Thanks guys....looking forward to getting started on my project!

Stepper
 
Your best bet would be to find an A-body 8.75" rear end from 65-72. That way it would simply be a bolt in project. You can use a B-body rear end but you`ll have to move the spring perches and select rims with additional backspacing to make up for the added length of the rear end.
 
Longgone said:
Your best bet would be to find an A-body 8.75" rear end from 65-72. That way it would simply be a bolt in project.
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Also an 8 1/4 rear from 73 and up A bodies will bolt up. Either will require the drive shaft to be shortened and reballanced. The 8 3/4 is the best but an 8 1/4 will get the job done, unfortunately the 8 1/4 also has the large bolt pattern.
 
have you checked into the price of getting a rear end narrowed? might be happier in the long run if you had the rear end made the right length to a set of wheels you like instead of trying to find a set of wheels that you like that have the right back spacing...
 
inkjunkie said:
have you checked into the price of getting a rear end narrowed? might be happier in the long run if you had the rear end made the right length to a set of wheels you like instead of trying to find a set of wheels that you like that have the right back spacing...
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I just dropped one off at Moser in IN. If you can find a station wagon or Dodge truck without the tapered axles, so they can just cut and respline the axles, you can get one narrowed for about $300 plus shipping. Or if you want to just get it cut for an A body housing that would be only $190 plus shipping. Any 8 3/4 housing should work, but call them to be sure. Then find some original SBP axles and you are good to go. There should be a bunch of us here with extra SBP axles in the garage.
 
These are all exactly the information I was looking for. Thanks guys. Again, I know it's been beaten to death, but this is helpful to have it in one spot. Now that I know specifically what to look for....the hunt begins!

Thanks again.
 
These are all exactly the information I was looking for. Thanks guys. Again, I know it's been beaten to death, but this is helpful to have it in one spot. Now that I know specifically what to look for....the hunt begins!

Thanks again.
 
I recently worked on a 64 Rambler that someone had installed a Ford 8.8 out of a early 90's Ranger. I measured it and found it is exactly the same width as my 8-3/4 in my 68 Cuda and uses the large 5 on 4-1/2" bolt pattern. Looks like it had a some brackets on it that had to be cut off and I'm not sure if the spring perches would be right or not but that's easy to remedy.
 
Has anyone ever put an E body axle in a 67-69 Dart? I wouldn't think E bodies would be any wider than B bodies, but you never know. I think I have a B body axle in my 67 already, but it's an 8.25 and I'd like to upgrade and would appreciate knowing what to look for. I'll be putting a spring offset kit in most likely anyway, so moving mounting pads around isn't a problem. The current axle is also already the big bolt pattern with 2.5" wide brakes, so if I could keep them that would be nice since I just bought all new shoes and drums.
 
Map63Vette said:
Has anyone ever put an E body axle in a 67-69 Dart? I wouldn't think E bodies would be any wider than B bodies, but you never know. I think I have a B body axle in my 67 already, but it's an 8.25 and I'd like to upgrade and would appreciate knowing what to look for. I'll be putting a spring offset kit in most likely anyway, so moving mounting pads around isn't a problem. The current axle is also already the big bolt pattern with 2.5" wide brakes, so if I could keep them that would be nice since I just bought all new shoes and drums.
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E-body rears are quite a bit wider than A-body rears. 5-6 inches wider if I remember right. The spring perches are on 46" centers where-as the A-body is on 43" centers but if your doing an inboard kit that is no big deal. You could make it work but it isn't a bolt in. Old B body rears are fairly close for an A-body.
 
fishy68 said:
I recently worked on a 64 Rambler that someone had installed a Ford 8.8 out of a early 90's Ranger. I measured it and found it is exactly the same width as my 8-3/4 in my 68 Cuda and uses the large 5 on 4-1/2" bolt pattern. Looks like it had a some brackets on it that had to be cut off and I'm not sure if the spring perches would be right or not but that's easy to remedy.
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I have this same rear in a 68 Dart I bought and it fits good. I don't need it if you wanna come get it you can have it for the cost of lunch? Course I'm in Fl.
 
fishy68 said:
Old B body rears are fairly close for an A-body.
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I'm sure the info is somewhere on here, but what exactly is an older B body? What years should i be looking for? I think the one I have in the car now is something like a 74 Fury axle, at least that was what finally lined up all the brake pieces right at the part store. I had a hell of a time trying to figure out what is was. It had the wide brakes and big bolt pattern but the first set of shoes I got had the wrong slot for the parking brake lever.
 
The 65-67 B-body rears are 59-1/2" wide drum to drum so they'll work. The 68-70 are 60-1/8" so they can be made to work also. Of course you'll need wheels with the right offset for either. C-body rears (like your Fury rearend) are about 4-5 inches wider than a B-body so I'm surprised it'll even fit under an A-body without the wheels sticking way out of the fenderwells. Figuring out brakes can be challenging cause they used quite a few combination's.
 
It may not really even be a Fury rear end, but it's the first car I found that at least the brakes matched on. I tried earlier 70's Chargers in the parts lookup, but the slot where the parking brake lever attaches was wrong (it was a circle on the Charger, the Fury one was a rectangle like I needed). They are both 2.5" wide brakes, but apparently there is something else different in there. Fortunately I finally talked to someone at the parts store who even knew what the different bodies were in Mopars and we got it figured out.
 
Map63Vette said:
It may not really even be a Fury rear end, but it's the first car I found that at least the brakes matched on. I tried earlier 70's Chargers in the parts lookup, but the slot where the parking brake lever attaches was wrong (it was a circle on the Charger, the Fury one was a rectangle like I needed). They are both 2.5" wide brakes, but apparently there is something else different in there. Fortunately I finally talked to someone at the parts store who even knew what the different bodies were in Mopars and we got it figured out.
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I know how that is. With stuff this old things get swapped around. Heck you might have a B-body rear that someone put big brakes off a C-body on. You never know.

Finding a good parts man is hard to do anymore too. When you find one stick with him.
 
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