I plan on removing my 7 1/4" rearend and replacing it with a 8 3/4". Could someone point me to an article or page I could read up on it? I plan to replace the leaf springs as well.

bwhitejr

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'72 Duster (Performance 360)
'83 Ramcharger (Performance 318)
'80 TrailDuster (360)
'80 D-150 Truck (See Below)
CompCams 252S, Holley 390cfm, Offy manifold
Ported, Polished and Gasket Matched
P4286813 Springs,0.040 Overbore,
0.090 Shaved Head

You will need the shock plates for the 8 & 3/4 (from an A, B, C body) or 8 & 1/4, new u bolts (3 in radius I believe) and shorted the driveshaft by about 2-3 inches. The actual swap is pretty straight forward other than the driveshaft work.

Totally impossible. As soon as you locate an A-body 8 3/4" rear, you should forward me the info and walk away....

Good luck!

VM

8 & 3/4's are out there (although much harder to find now-a-days). I've managed to accumulate 4 of them! No, none are for sale as they are all destined to go in all of my 65s - Dart GT convert, Dart wagon, Valiant convert and Barracuda.

Yeah, but you won't find many a-bodies in or around Texas, with or without their rear ends intact. You folks to the north, east and west are lucky.

VM

its pricey, but texasacres.com has them. Since your in Texas thought I would mention it.

I picked mine up at a swap meet years ago, 3.23 SG with the later casing, $200.

as for shortening the shaft, on this site you will hear anything from 1.75 to 2.25 inches. driveline books (reference service manual) says 2.2 needs to go

-dave

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what part of "illegal" is so confusing???

I've done the swap twice. The driveshaft needs cut 1-3/4". Make sure you have a u-joint that matches the yoke on the rear. There is an adapter joint for the 7260 to 7290 swap.

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

agreed. always go with the guy who has done it a few times over the book. I needed to cut 2"......but I don't always trust the book or the guy doing it if your not doing it yourself

-dave

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what part of "illegal" is so confusing???

I would figure the hardest part is going to be finding one. I plan to start looking as soon as I get my Duster, so that by the time I actually get my hands on one, I'll have enough money saved up to do whatever work I need to do on it, plus installing disc brakes.

In other words I have a feeling it's going to take me quite a while to get my hands on an A-body 8.75"

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'74 Duster w/ HEI ignition, beat to snot suspension, A904, 8.25" 3.55 SG rear, still being tuned up and gets 17 MPG

Know how they always build a better idiot? That's me

I know a guy that has about 5 or 6 of them laying around but he is really expensive ( I just got 4 speed pedals +shifter for $300.00 from him this weekend ) so he's got it all but with a price tag I think I priced one from him before and it was round $800 and some change drum to drum

Holy crap. That thing had better have a SG in there.

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'74 Duster w/ HEI ignition, beat to snot suspension, A904, 8.25" 3.55 SG rear, still being tuned up and gets 17 MPG

Know how they always build a better idiot? That's me

I would not cut a drive shaft until I could measure between the yokes with the rear installed.

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Excuse me, does this smell like chloroform to you?

I think all his stuff has sure grips in them I wanted to get a 7 1/4 from him about a year ago and it was a sure grip and he wanted about $400

When I did my swap I followed what someone here told me, install it, push slip yoke into tranny until it bottoms out, pull it out an inch, then measure when on level surface. I came up with 1 3/4"

$800 is probably on the high side but you have to consider - if you are going to get a van/b/e/etc one to cut down you will have to pay for the cost of shortening it, perches worked if need be, axles, etc.

Watch the wheel bolt pattern too. Last year they came in A-bodies IIRC was 72 which means they were all SBP.

You are absolutely correct on that.