The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk 61, 63 Axle

Hey guys,

Will a 63 axle go in my 61? Is there a problem with the mounting arms or something? I just traded an old junk Honda for a 63 rear-end (not the shocks, or springs just the axle) since I'm not changing out anything, but the axle, will it go right in, it looks like it would, my cousin is sure it will, or that he could make it work. If not then I was told I could take all the guts out of the differential and the axle shafts from this one and put it in mine.

The 61-63 ends should be the same, as long as they're both 2wd. Pretty sure the trailing arms are 60-66 items.

Brian

I don,t believe the guts will interchange. 63 was the first year for the 1 piece housing. The comeplete unit should though. There may be some difference in brake cables & fluid connections but you should be able to modify it to fit.

I put the new rear-end in about a month ago and discovered - the trailing arms are different on the '63. The 61 is about 2 inches away from the center of the bracket ... any suggestions? I think I am going to be able to modify it, but I would like some other ideas, if available...

I was out working on the truck Thursday and I got it started!! The only problem with the engine was the resister was dead, so the points were getting no fire. That was easy to fix. The truck runs very rough right now, and won't stay running for long unless you close the carburetor air intake and give it straight gas - or nearly close it. It also has an exhaust leak, so it sounds like a tractor when it's running. I changed the manifold gaskets, but I am still getting leak from around them and more sever leak further down.

Anyway, once I got it started I discovered that one of the freeze plugs was all rusted out - followed that down further and found out that the block has a long freeze crack towards the bottom. It's thankfully a very slow leak, and I believe I can fix it or patch it with JB Weld.

The chassis of a 63 is different to that of a 61 as you probably know. The engines available those years were also different. Not sure about the rear ends but they are typically very different trucks even though they look the same.

Good info here--
Since the '61 and '63 are very different trucks, how does the '62 fall in?
I know the '61/'62 had the torsion bar front ends. They also had a X-frame, correct?
Does the '63 have a full perimeter frame?
What would the rear axle interchange with?
There's a non-original Dana 44 under my '62. It is an original trailing-arm truck rear end, but don't know about the year.
The perches don't appear to have been moved, so it was a bolt-in. But I'm wondering if pinion angle would have been the same.

-Brad

Not sure about the rear ends

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The only difference (outside) with the rear-ends is where the axel seats are welded on...

Does anyone here know where I can get some (cheap) axel seats - that are not welded onto the casing? I see a conversion kit in one of the catalogs, but it comes with a torsion bar, and I think something else besides just the seats. Those are all I really need to make it work, just clamp it down on those.