Hey fellers..! Just wanted to update you guys and let you know what I ended up doing..
Ran into an old friend I hadn't seen in years.. I remember he was an old Chevy truck guy from back when.. So we started talking shop about trucks of course..
Anyway, turns out he had a 12 bolt rear end from a 1969 C-10 long bed.. It had a 3.07 ring and pinion already in it..
So we swapped out the whole rear.. It was in great shape.. We replaced the wheel bearings and seals, pinion seal, "C" clips, cover gasket and some other minor things..
The only thing that was a pain in the butt was we had to break the welds on the "U" joint brackets and move them a couple inches and shorten the stabilizer bar.. Then of course got the plum tools out to make sure it was sitting at exactly the right spot.. Other than that it bolted right up like it was made for it..
It rides like it's on butter now.. Smooth and much lower rpm's.. My tack reads about 2400 rpm's at 57 mph.. Which I know isn't right because i'm passing cars in the third lane on a 5 lane freeway..
Today i had a cop hit me with his radar while I was driving.. My speedometer said I was going 20 mph and he said i was doing 26..
So obviously I have to get my speedometer and odometer re-calibrated..
Also, I'm still running my 25" tires.. They are pretty new so I wanted to get some more use from them before I size up the tires.. Probably I will end up putting a 26" or 27" tire on there and calling it quits..
At this point it is hard to say how this has effected my fuel economy.. Once I re-calibrate the speedometer and the odometer I'll have an exact number on mileage.. But one thing is for sure, my truck is loving the new rear end.. It is definitely giving my motor a break..
One last thing.. I plan on taking it into a regular rear end place and paying them to do a diagnosis on it.. Even though it appears to be operating well, it is a used rear end and it is old.. So maybe might need some shims replaced or some gears..
I'll sleep better once I have them go through it..
For now I'm stoked on what I did.. This was also a good move because the parts for these 69 rear ends are more available and the maintenance on them are much easier..
Thanks to all that helped me on this thread..
