spring pad location

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moparraceman

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i have a 83/4 housing thats the right lenght ,but the spring pads should be 43" but there 44" thats 1/2" on each side will they work or not ?
 
Is the housing 52 5/8 inches flange to flange where the axles bolt in? That's factory A body 8 3/4 length. Someone may have moved the spring perches out a half inch on each side to put that rearend in a B body sometime in the last 60 or so years. What's weird is, I have one with that exact same situation I'm working on right now. Original A body 8 3/4 housing with the obviously moved perches set at 44". It had also shucked the ring gear out and cracked the rear bubble of the housing. I was welding that up yesterday and noticed the perches had been rewelded, so I measured them. 44"! I just bought some new perches from another member here to weld on at 42" to move my springs in a half inch on my 65 Barracuda, so I was gonna cut the old ones off anyway.

To answer your question, the housing will go into the car and sit on the springs being a half inch too wide on each side, but it splays the springs out and I would imagine it would eat the bushings up quicker. I helped a friend put a B body Dana 60 in a 73 Dart Sport when we were teenagers, and we bolted it in that way. It worked good and didn't drive funny, but now that I know better, I'd move the spring perches to where they need to be to keep everything straight.
 
moparraceman said:
i have a 83/4 housing thats the right lenght ,but the spring pads should be 43" but there 44" thats 1/2" on each side will they work or not ?
Click to expand...
Yes, but, it will cause premature failure of the leaf spring bushings.
 
It's probably a 62-63 B body housing. If you have the axles from it, check them in the rearend chunk you plan to use to see if it has the same axle splines as whatever axles you're going to use, before you go to the trouble of putting the housing in the car. That housing would have come with the old axles with the splined end on the brake/hub end of the axles. Those axles make good property corner markers! :BangHead:
 
JDMopar said:
Is the housing 52 5/8 inches flange to flange where the axles bolt in? That's factory A body 8 3/4 length. Someone may have moved the spring perches out a half inch on each side to put that rearend in a B body sometime in the last 60 or so years. What's weird is, I have one with that exact same situation I'm working on right now. Original A body 8 3/4 housing with the obviously moved perches set at 44". It had also shucked the ring gear out and cracked the rear bubble of the housing. I was welding that up yesterday and noticed the perches had been rewelded, so I measured them. 44"! I just bought some new perches from another member here to weld on at 42" to move my springs in a half inch on my 65 Barracuda, so I was gonna cut the old ones off anyway.

To answer your question, the housing will go into the car and sit on the springs being a half inch too wide on each side, but it splays the springs out and I would imagine it would eat the bushings up quicker. I helped a friend put a B body Dana 60 in a 73 Dart Sport when we were teenagers, and we bolted it in that way. It worked good and didn't drive funny, but now that I know better, I'd move the spring perches to where they need to be to keep everything straight.
Click to expand...

I'm doing the same thing with a 60/70 B body in a 83 Demon. Where are you getting your leaf relocation kit? They are on BO at Doc Diff.
 
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