Impala X Frame axle swap 9" Ford widths

[matdean]

OK, so I have a 63 Chevy Biscayne wagon its been sitting for a few months (8 or9) and I have finally gotten the gumption to start back on it. The rear looks like poop, leaking horribly, would roar while driving and the lube in the rear is low and whats in there feels like grease.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2007/05/may07075-1.jpg

So I started looking at ford 9" since that seams to be the usual upgrade. I want to upgrade brakes while I'm doing this as well and I do no thave the budget like many of you to drop $2K on a rear, heck I dont even have $1K, looking to do this for $400 or less with rear brakes. :help!:

I found a 9" on craigslist thats big bearing 31 spline 64" wide. I got to thinking, which can be a bad thing. :) If I went with a wider axle I could run vette rims with no spacers. Is this feasible or would I be better off running something (another 9" or shorten this one, or rebuild stock axle) to run some rims with a lip on them? Coys, Boyds, Or Billet Specialties?

[Apogee]

Cool car. I assume the 9" you're looking at is out of a F150 or 78-79 big Bronco since those are ~65" wide, 31-spline, big-bearing units. Most of them came with 3.50 gears although a few were 4.11. Trac-Loc limited slips are fairly common as well.

They have pretty good 11" drums stock, so for low-buck performance I would just stick with those. The housing flange pattern is going to vary depending on the year of the housing, so aftermarket brakes later on could be easy or not so easy. That axle flange patterns will be 5x5.5, so those will need to be modified or swapped out with aftermarkets as well.

If you like the look of a late-model, high-offset wheel, I say go for it. I personally like a little lip on those cars, but I haven't seen that many with late-model wheels either. You'll need to do the math to see where that will put you with respect the width difference, but that's not overly complicated...just addition and subraction. It's going to add some cost up front when you need wheel adapters to run similar high-offset wheels up there, but that just comes with the territory. With a $400 budget, I assume you've got all of the skills, tools, and materials to do all of the fab work that's going to be required?

Tobin
KORE3