5 lug axles......what fits?

[qksilver]

I am stripping an 87 1/2 chevy and wondering if the rear axles and brake system will fit a 70 housing. If they don't fit will the backing plates drums etc work with the 70 housing and 5 lug axles out of a 71 GMC. I would use the whole rear from either the 87 or 71 but don't want to deal with the welding.
Thanks,
Steve

[70GMCer]

Steve, I was told that you would have to relocate the spring perches. The axles won't fit into our rears either. Don't know about the backing plates, I was going to do the that on mine using the rear our of that 84 burb I have.

[kaycee]

They switched to different width in mid 70 so they just might work,I on the other hand made them work.I made a spacer plate for each side between the axle housing and backing plate.The only way to tell for sure is to measure from backing plate to plate.

[Tx Firefighter]

Your 87 will be a 10 bolt rear, so the axles will be different.

You can use new coil spring perches from ECE and swap the rear in real easy. Even if you can't weld them yourself, just mark them where they need to be and have the local muffler shop weld them for you.

I just put a 75 model rear end in my 64 Suburban using the ECE perches.

[qksilver]

Thinking it over, I will probably go the route you did.Using the whole rear out of the 87 it has a lot less miles and is going into my occasional hiway truck I am building, 305 TBI/700R/3.08 posi
How hard is it to set up the pinion angle? I figured I could asemble everything, tighten it down and then load on trailer to take to my buddies shop so he can weld it

[Tx Firefighter]

Here's how I set my pinion angle.

I got a 5 dollar protractor from Home Depot or some place similar. It's the plastic kind with a round degreed dial and a little pointer that always points straight up, no matter how you turn it.

I put the rear of the truck on stands and measured the angle of the rearend's yoke.

Then, I installed the new rearend and rotated it till it's yoke angle matched the original rear. Then I tacked the perches and removed the rear to fully weld them on.

Total time, like 10 minutes. Simple as pie.

[Tx Firefighter]

I went and found a picture of what I'm talking about...

Mine is similar to this one, except bright blue, and it came from Lowes or HD.