It would help if Ernie could give us some more information. Reading his other previous posts, I get the feeling he has a well used original truck and wants to put it on the road without sinking a ton of money into it.
1.) Getting back to Ernie's statement, replacing a 62 1/4" (drum face to drum face) stock rear axle with a 65 1/2" (truck year unknown), will this fit? That's 1 1/2" on each side. I can't answer that question. Ernie are you going to go back with stock wheels and tires? Also, a 10-bolt Chevy rear axle should have an axle code somewhere. Wire brush the grease and dirt off and look for a code. This may help you identify the year and hopefully the gear ratio. There is a lot of Chevy 10-bolt rear axle information that can be found on the Internet as well as how to relocate the spring perches.
2.) Swapping out the original closed drive and going with open drive 3 speed transmission, Ernie which 3 speed transmission (manufacturer and year) do you plan on using?
