1962 brake parts might be cheaper, but are they cheap enough to justify the work involved in changing backing plates and reconfiguring your parking brake?

I swapped a 1961 3.90 center section into the rear end of my 1953 GMC half ton. I installed a T5 using an adapter from Hamilton Intakes and centered the rear axle in the fender openings.

The center section swap is easy. The axel spline count is the same. You'll have to do a little grinding on the ankle housing to make clearance for the taller ring gear when installing it.

To center the axle in the fender I cut a couple small plates out of quarter inch steel and drilled 2 holes in each plate about an inch and a half apart. One hole was drilled large enough for the axle to spring alignment pin. The other hole was threaded to accept a short Allen head bolt with a head the same size as the alignment pin. It would make it easier to understand if I could show you a picture of it but I've just moved and all my pictures on my computer which is in a box in the basement right now.

With the T5 and re located rear end I was able to use a stock Astro Van drive shaft.

Vintage Car Artist