Rearend Swap

[Guff]

Will a rearend from a 72 GMC with leaf springs work in place of the rearend in my 69 Chevy with coils? If not, can I swap just the axles? I found a 72 gmc that I'll be taking the disc brake setup off of and I want to have a 5 -lug rear as well.

[Tx Firefighter]

No, the leaf and coil spring rears won't interchange.

The axles won't swap into your 69 either, because the 69 rear is narrower than the 72 one is.

1970 year saw a change in widths of rears.

[NO LONGER DISTURBED KONCEPTZ]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

No, the leaf and coil spring rears won't interchange.

The axles won't swap into your 69 either, because the 69 rear is narrower than the 72 one is.

1970 year saw a change in widths of rears.

He's right but on the 70 rear end I belive it wasnt all of them. The ones with the narrower rear end was the ones build in late 70 when they started to get ready to build the 71 trucks.

[Tx Firefighter]

Yes, if you run into a 70 model, you have to measure to see if it's the wide or narrow rear. After 70 though, they were all wide.

[purple gas]

I could be wrong (I often am) but wasn't there a camper special option available with a wider track in the early years?

[botboy]

You could do the swap but it would require removing and re-welding on spring perches from one rear end to the other, and if you don't know your welding skills well this could be a matter of life and death, so probably want to leave that to a professional...