axle questions

[RiffRaff]

i have tried the search button and came up with a good few answers

all leading me in this general direction,

but to be sure i thought id ask you good folk:)

so i have a 46 p15 coupe, i need to replace the rear axle

now the jeep cherokee seems to be a good candidate

as of this time i want to stick with drums on the rear

so an early might be the answer

what i would like to know is? what sort of work is involved

will my drive shaft need modification?

can i use my 16inch wheels?

presumably my leaf perches will need moving?

i would be grateful for any help you guys come up with:)

[greg g]

What key words did you use? there have been several threads regarding rear end, differentials and cherokee rears were covered in a couple. You will at least need to deal with the rear u joint, spring perches and maybe shock mounts. The 2wd drive early small cherokees are the better donors but couldn't guess of their availability in you neck of the world.

[oldodge41]

I swapped the rear axle on my '41 Dodge with one from a Ford Explorer. Same concept as what you are looking to do. I did it myself and learned as I went. I first removed the old rear. I then welded the spring perches in the proper position on the new rear, I used the same pinion angle of 3 degrees up that the old rear had (there is tons of reading about pinion angle available on the net). The new rear has larger axle tubes than the old one so I was going to modify the shock mount/u-bolt plates to accept the larger u-bolts but found that the shocks were going to interfere with the larger axle tubes so I fabbed up complete new shock mount/u-bolt plates that moved my shocks ahead a little to clear the axle tubes. This allowed me to get the rear hung under the car. I reused the brake lines from the old rear on the new rear by buying adapters to mate them to the new wheel cylinders. The brake hose and splitter bolted right on the new rear like they were made for it. The next issue was the drive shaft. My old rear was set up with ball and trunnion u-joints and the new one had a flange type mount for the drive shaft. The new rears pinion sits off center by a couple inches and the axle centerline to pinion flange is shorter than the old one. I would have liked to have a new drive shaft made using cross style u-joints but the finances didn't allow that. Instead I made an adapter that bolts to the old driveshaft and also bolts to the new pinion flange with the length I needed to mate them up. At this point the car is back on the road and working great with one exception. The speedometer is way off due to the change from a 4.10 ratio to a 3.27 ratio. Not sure what I am going to do about that yet because I don't think the correct speedometer gear is available for the original three speed to correct the error. I am using my original 16" wheels. I have purchased some wheel spacers to retain the original track width but have not installed them yet. This could also be accomplished with deeper offset wheels and may be in the future but for now it will be originals with spacers. Here is the new rear partially installed. Hope that gives you an idea what is involved.

[Don Coatney]

I used a Mopar 8 1/4" differential from a 74 Charger. Direct bolt in as in I did not have to move the spring perches.

[RiffRaff]

thanks for the reply's folks, looks like its a Cherokee axle

for me, its the one i can pick up over here

and they seem to do the job ...cheers

[Smokeybear]

I swapped the rear axle on my '41 Dodge with one from a Ford Explorer. Same concept as what you are looking to do. I did it myself and learned as I went. I first removed the old rear. I then welded the spring perches in the proper position on the new rear, I used the same pinion angle of 3 degrees up that the old rear had (there is tons of reading about pinion angle available on the net). The new rear has larger axle tubes than the old one so I was going to modify the shock mount/u-bolt plates to accept the larger u-bolts but found that the shocks were going to interfere with the larger axle tubes so I fabbed up complete new shock mount/u-bolt plates that moved my shocks ahead a little to clear the axle tubes. This allowed me to get the rear hung under the car. I reused the brake lines from the old rear on the new rear by buying adapters to mate them to the new wheel cylinders. The brake hose and splitter bolted right on the new rear like they were made for it. The next issue was the drive shaft. My old rear was set up with ball and trunnion u-joints and the new one had a flange type mount for the drive shaft. The new rears pinion sits off center by a couple inches and the axle centerline to pinion flange is shorter than the old one. I would have liked to have a new drive shaft made using cross style u-joints but the finances didn't allow that. Instead I made an adapter that bolts to the old driveshaft and also bolts to the new pinion flange with the length I needed to mate them up. At this point the car is back on the road and working great with one exception. The speedometer is way off due to the change from a 4.10 ratio to a 3.27 ratio. Not sure what I am going to do about that yet because I don't think the correct speedometer gear is available for the original three speed to correct the error. I am using my original 16" wheels. I have purchased some wheel spacers to retain the original track width but have not installed them yet. This could also be accomplished with deeper offset wheels and may be in the future but for now it will be originals with spacers. Here is the new rear partially installed. Hope that gives you an idea what is involved.

You wouldn't happen to have a picture of the adapter you made to mate the original driveshaft to the 8.8 rear would you?