Rearend Conversion to a GM 12 bolt

[Smiliesafari]

I was on my way to Letchworth State Park in NY for the Red, White and Blue Balloon Festival when to my HUGE disappointment the rearend in the "SmilieVan" started to make ugly noises. Fortunately we were not that far from home and made it back to Orlando OK. Decision time.........buy another rearend at the salvage yard and just be done with it, or build a bullet proof rearend and NEVER worry about it again. Well, the salvage yard way is not how some of us do things. Besides, I already have a 12 bolt hanging in the rafters. It's time to get that sucker down and put it to good use. So, here we go. Another project. Fun, Fun, Fun. This rearend was already narrowed for a previous project that never got finished so the first step was to lengthen it to the proper dimensions. Some of you may remember that I modified a wheel so the slider would open without touching the right rear tire. This new rearend had to be at a dimention that would allow me to use an unmodified wheel as I was planning new wheels and tires as part of the project. So, this rearend is 2 1/2" narrower than stock. It has custom axles by Dutchman Motor Sports. I can't say enough about how good these people were to work with.
It has an Eaton Posi. It has the BIG Ford truck press on axle bearings and bearing housing ends also supplied by Dutchman. I switched from a 3:42 to a 3:08 ring and pinion. After having driven it for a week I don't notice much difference. I'm hoping for a little better MPG. When the V8 swap happens the extra torque will give the van pretty good performance. Here's the best part........PICTURES!!!!!!!

[Smiliesafari]

[lockdoc]

Damn! That thing is huge! Nice work so far and thanks for the pics.

[astrozam]

That is beastly and really nice job on the pics Skip, looks great so far

[LiftedAWDAstro]

Woooohoooo! Nice job. Thanks for throwing them up.

[SoCalli V8]

Great informative pictures, and a nice rear end you got there Skip.... haha!

[Smiliesafari]

A short history on the 12 bolt. There have been two versions. One was and has been used in the half ton Chevy trucks almost forever. It's not the one I used. It is not as strong car version. It's so different that there are almost no interchangable parts. The car 12 bolt is the unit that was used in all of the GM muscle cars of the 60's and 70's. It's a 8 7/8 ring gear unit. Some came with positraction and some didn't. A lot of these units came in your average daily driver cars. Some had press on type bearings but most had the "C" clip type axles. I was never a big fan of the "C" clip type and that's the reason I switched to press on bearings. It was a fun project. And more kudos to Dutchman Motor Sports. The axles were a thing of beauty. Almost a pity they had to be hidden inside the housing.

[Rebel]

You da man Skip. Nice job. I thought there was a project going on down south,,now we know. Thanks for the pics. Nice job.

[snapple]

Awesome Skip! Thanks for posting up . Look forward to trying to hook up and meet next year at Letchworth!

[Cobra]

Wow that sure does look tough i'm a little jealous

[Smiliesafari]

More pics. I thought all of them would post but they didn't.

[Rebel]

Clean bud,,nice work. Of course we all know you do nothing but the best.

[Cobra]

Sweet!!! i wish my rearend looked that good