I tried doing that with my 39 and it was a no go. The center section from the 57 uses hypoid gears, the 39 did not. The center section from the 57 would physically bolt into the 39 housing but the alignment was all off. I would expect the same with the 36 housing. GM started using hypoid gears in 40. In my 39, I used a 40 housing and axles with the 57 center section and all was good