1965 Rear Housing Spring Perches

[stanhope55]

Hi
I am putting a 65 b body rear-end on my Satellite. It had been swapped out over the years to a pre 65 tapered axles so I am converting back to stock.

My question... the spring perches were a little weathered so I am replacing. I noticed on the old housing they were not let's say level to each other one was 2 degrees sloped more than the other. I am wondering if they could be off set for loading perhaps on a none posi car or in the factory 50 years ago close was close enough.... any ideas ?

 

[Blackheart]

I recently got back my 65 B body housing from the powder coater and my spring perches are mounted the same on each side

 

[Blackheart]

...

I recently got back my 65 B body housing from the powder coater and my spring perches are mounted the same on each side

 

[stanhope55]

I assumed they should be the same... probably just a 50 yr old factory deal... doubt they used a degree scale back then.
Thx

 

[PurpleBeeper]

You didn't start to "twist" the housing by any chance? Did you ever run slicks?

 

[dvw]

Housing is twisted. I'll bet if you sight through from one end to the othe you'll see it. Find someone with a axle narrowing fixture.
Doug

 

[stanhope55]

We are only talking 1-2 degrees tops. I assume it could have been caused by worm out perch metal one side was pretty worm on the top.
If it was twisted a little I would assume my bolts for the backing plates would not be square on both sides to each other.. will do some more investigating. Regardless I will have to use it. impossible to find where I live and it's not going to be a race car.

 

[dvw]

The 1st one I twisted was found by accident. I had broke a U joint at the track and was being towed back. Could hear a grinding sound so I decided to pull the center section. The right axle wouldn't cone out. Had to use a slide hammer. The noise was the splines on the axle being at an angle to the splines in the spool. Then when pullong the housing the leaf spring "popped" when the U bolts were removed. The reason being was the spring perches weren't in the same plane due to housing twist.
Doug

 

[Glenwood]

whats a good way to check for twisting? I have a late 60's 8-3/4 that I was thinking to swap into the 64. This rearend saw a fair amount of street racing according to the PO. It's up on stands at the moment.

 

[Cranky]

I work off of a 1/2" thick steel table. Didn't build it just for rear ends but it works very well for them. The bearing housings are not flat all the way across but if you clean them and they are flat enough for a magnetic level, you can get an idea if they are the same or not. You can also put a level across the studs and see if they correspond with each side. If you have a table like this, you can also square the opening of the center section to the table and check the angle of the spring pads and see if they are both the same. I've found a few housings where someone welded on new pads when they moved the springs in and just laid the housing on the springs, adjusted the pinion angle and welded them up. Doing it this way is wrong and especially so if you're using SS springs or any other biased rear springs. Levels, angle finders and squares are just some of the tools that should be used in building/narrowing/checking a housing....