Rear axle questions

[shifty]

Not-so-quick question. After recently finding out that I was misinformed about crossmember swaps, I wanted to ask about this while I'm at it.

I am going 5-lug drums on the rear of my truck. I DO NOT WANT REAR DISC BRAKES. My rear drums on my '68 are in absolutely wonderful shape, so I would like to keep them, or as much of them as possible, but I need to know some things first.

Now, I have a complete '77 (leaf spring) 5-lug rear end with some drums that are pretty far gone at my disposal. However, it seems the axles in the '73-87 pickups are about an inch or inch and a half longer than my '68, so I'm assuming this will be a problem, and I'll need to get new drum brakes. I think the width of the actual drum on the 73-87 trucks is wider than on my '68.

To boot, I *think* I can easily go to Summit Racing 30-mins down the street and pick up new proper-length/spline 5 on 5 5-lug axles for around $100 each. BUT before I go out and waste even more money only to find that, for whatever reason, the axles I got will require different brakes or something, I wanted to ask here.

Realistically, what ARE my options? For example...

Can I take my '77 axles to a shop to have them properly cut down to the same length as my '68?

If I do that, can I use those axles with my '68 drums?

If so, what can I reuse and how - and where can I get the 5-lug drums "pie dish" part from? How do I make it work?

Is there some easier way to do this?

Curious to hear feedback. I want to keep my expense under $200. I keep finding that I'm taking advice on this forum to heart and it's cosing me money sometimes

I do get to meet some friggin cool board members during the process, though!!