Can I swap the guts (ring, pinion, suregrip) from one 7 1/4 case to another? I had heard that suregrip carriers were somehow different (beefier?) than the non suregrip housing I want to use. I have not done this before so any hints, tips, pitfalls would be welcome. Thanks.

An incorrectly done differential will fail quickly. I'm trying to learn how to do it correctly myself.

Randy's has some really great technical articles to be found at:

http://www.diferentials.com/tech/techind.html

The install instructions is a really good start.

By beefier, I think they mean this. The weak link in a 7 1/4 is the tiny gears inside the carrier. Suregrip carriers design inherently protects the tiny gear, therefore they are stronger.

You'll want to buy an install kit for new bearings and crush sleeve.

It is important to know the years of the two units you are working with.
Around 1970, the 7 1/4 went from a shim pack set pinion to a crush sleeve type pinion, the housings are different between the two types.
DD

The gear set and suregrip are coming out of a 67' diff to go into my 72' diff. If the housings are not compatable (shim pack vs crush sleeve) am I still able to transfer just the suregrip unit into the 72' housing and gear set? If so what does this involve? Thanks for the replys.