Suspension and axel swap.

[Rich Van Linkel]

Vintage brothers,
Have any of you ever tried to swap the suspension and axels from a 67-70 to a 64-66?
I have this set up, and when i pulled the rear axel under the 66, I found it to have the srings set out wider, and the srings themselves are too wide to fit in the hangers under the 66. Is the axel under a 67-70 the same width as those under the 71-79s? I haven't even tried to see what problems lie ahead for the front axel. Can this swap be made?

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[smiley]

hey rich,
technically, the rear is interchangeable, but the suspension is different. in '67, chevy moved to a heavier-duty suspension (hence wider springs) and the spring perches aren't in the same position. if you are mostly interested in using the rear, you could move the spring perches and use the '66 leaves. using the later model springs would be much harder as you would have to do a bit more body modification to accomodate the leaf springs.

[painterchris]

That's odd. My 65 has a rear-end in it that I think came out of a 1/2 ton pickup from the early 70's. It doesn't look like they modified the setup at all. So, maybe there are some rear-ends that wil fit into the van without any modifications. Check with a suspension shop.
Good Luck,
Andy.

[Yeggster]

I just swapped the rear end in my 66

I put a HUGE 1 ton 14 bolt rear axle from an 80's pickup in it.....I used the 66 leaves but added one leaf and had to reposition the spring perches and shock mounts to match.

The new axle is an inch wider on each side but runs good.

I think I *may* have to change the ring and pinion some time as the 4.56 ratio is a bit on the low side.....it revs a bit too much at hi-way speeds

Shane