what rear end is this??

[lost wages]

i was originally told it was from a 71, but if you all have seen the brake line thread now im not sure. It is 5 lug, and bolted right up to my 68 trailing arms, was this an odd ball axle or something? this is a pic with my break lines on my rear end.

[lost wages]

this is a pic of the same lines on frat boys, oops i mean 1971stepside, rear axle.

[GMCPaul]

Post the axle code off the passenger side top front of passenger side axle tube and we'll decode it, its the best way to know.
GMCPaul

[1971Stepside]

frat boy!! you crack me up.....how did you know I was in a fraternity?

Hey, I think that rearend you have is out of a 45 Ford. It's only a two bolt main though......

[slam33]

If it's 5 bolt lug, it's probably a 71 or 72 rear end. It would bolt to your 68, no problem

[lost wages]

1971 stepside, any one that has ever met you will ask what frat you belong to the numbers on the axle that i found were
thc w0321 as far as i could tell. thanks guys, looks like 1971 stepside got himself some new stainless brake lines!

[1971Stepside]

Could someone decode his rearend number....I'm tired of that loud whiney noise coming from across the river!!

Oh wait, he is hooking me up with brake lines! What a guy.

[Fast68Chevy]

1971 3.73

[1971Stepside]

OK, so then why does my 71 rearend have the tab and the lines fit near perfectly and they don't even come close on his? Something weird is going on around here! Anyone? What about you guys that have the "meet at the pumkin" T. Did you order your lines from inline tube?

[Joesjunk]

Yep, My book shows its a 1971 3:73 non-posi. Is that the one you got from me??

[Fast68Chevy]

they started bolting on the T bracket to diff cover in 70 or 71, used ot be welded to axle tube, its yet another mid-decade GM unexplained design change

good luck

[1971Stepside]

joesjunk...it is the one he bought from you....

[lost wages]

so why dont these lines fit? the guys at inline tube swear its not a 71 axle. fast68 you got any ideas? maybe a heavy half? what is this thing? joe i did get this from you, do you know exactly what it came out of? camper special? maybe its a one off 12 bolt worth thousands, ebay here i come!!!!

[1971Stepside]

lost wages....the guy got my rearend done yesterday. I went an picked it up last night! Man it is heavier with all the good stuff in it. Anyway, other than the fact that it appears to have a small leak we could do some measuring off of it. Get the measurments of yours from hub to hub and I will compare that tonight with my axle. I will probably end up taking my back out to the guy this evening if this turns out to be a true leak and not just residual oil.

[Mudder]

Knowing that money is no object to you two, why don't we just break down and get some braided stainless lines to run to each wheel???????????

[1971Stepside]

I'm the one on the budget with a wife keeping close tabs. Money Bags Wages, er I mean Lost Wages on the other hand can't work on his truck because he spends all his money on the coolest tools known to man! Mudder, you gotta come up and use the new plasma cutter! That thing is fun.

[Mudder]

Just as soon as I get these Supertraps rebuilt I'm going for a little drive. After 2 weeks of adjusting a Holley I think its just about ready. I think this motor flows so good now it has blown the guts out of the traps! I will not take my truck anywhere near Wages and his plasma cutter!!!!!! LOL

[1971Stepside]

I pulled the numbers off my housing at lunch. Decode these and we will verify that my rearend is a 71. Here are all the numbers I found:

12345
06819
F181

[Fast68Chevy]

i have no explanation other than maybe someone welded that tab on the tube from another axl,e an older one, i cant remember ho wit was set up on the 71 i just cut up, i already scrapped the axle, so,.,. i know that 72 axles have bolted tab not welded, so hmm..

F181 is casting date code which tells us when the axle housing itself was literally cast, but not when axle tubes were pressed and spot welded onto the diff housing and when axle was bolted into a truck, decodes as June 18 1971, my parents were 10 and 11 at that time
rest of those numbers are nothing that will tell us anything we need to know, you should get the stamping code off the axle tube like wages did

[1971Stepside]

Thanks fast! I will look for that number this evening. All in all though it sounds like mine is a 71 with that build date. I was just thinking mine may have been a 68 or 69 rearend with new 5 lug axles being put in it at some point in its life. That may explain why the difference in the tab and the lines fitting.

[basketcase]

My '69 6 lug has the T in the same location as the red axle in the picture above. The 5 lug '72 I got to put in has the bolt on type on the special stud on the rear end cover. If all '72s were bolt on and this rear in question is a weld on and 5 lugs it must be a '71 but I don't see the tab for the T. Appears that the tab for the T was the same on the older 6 lug axles. I suspect it is a '72 and you need to get the bolt on tab and '72 brake lines. At least that would seem to be the easiest fix.

As for the lousy fit of the brake lines in the blue picture it looks like the radius on all the bends are less than they should be. You can see this by comparing to the line in the red picture.

Tom

[1971Stepside]

They are the same lines. We took them off Lost Wages axle (the blue one) and put them on mine (the red one). That is the part that is weird. Even if Lost Wages had the tab the lines did not come close to lining up where it would be.

I do think you are right, that he needs to order the 72 lines.

[basketcase]

Originally posted by 1971Stepside
They are the same lines. We took them off Lost Wages axle (the blue one) and put them on mine (the red one). That is the part that is weird. Even if Lost Wages had the tab the lines did not come close to lining up where it would be.

I do think you are right, that he needs to order the 72 lines.

Now that is strange. Must have been an optical dillusion due to the camera angle. :p Are the axles the same width? Wonder if the one was narrowed at some time for a tubbed truck.

Tom

[Fast68Chevy]

if its stock width then will be 57" from plate to plate- backsid eof them

[1971Stepside]

here are the numbers off my axle tube....I hope I got them correct...the powder coat fills them in a little.

THA W177 1