So I need some advice and help. I have taken the rear end from my '54 which was not the original rear end to a guy highly recommended. It is in bad shape and would have to be completely re-done. The problem with the exisiting one is the avaialability of parts. I have seen that the Colorado is a good swap out which has been done before and well documented however the rear end guy thinks I would be happier in the long run with the durability of an older 12 bolt completely rebuilt. Any opinions on that? The second thing I need advice with is he is proposing to completely re-do the new 12 bolt. New axles, seals, ring, pinion, etc. He would also weld on the perches in the right spot and have the thing painted black and ready to essentially bolt in. He would make sure all dimensions were right and have the same 6 x 5.5 bolt pattern that I have on the front. The price his is asking for everything all done and he would supply all parts is approximately $1900.00 Does this seem like a fair price? Thanks in advance for the advice. Rebuilding myself is not an option. My own time and the advanced nature of the rear end would put me far out of my comfort zone.
Yep, she's got a 12 bolt! I'd go with the 12 bolt. As for the price, if the guy comes highly recommended and stands behind his work, peace of mind & quality work are always money well spent. John
a 12 bolt IS nice, but Unless you are running a lot of HP, and a lot of sticky tire, a 12 bolt may be WAY overkill... the Colorado is an 8" ring gear, available in a fairly decent amount of ratios (3.42, 3.73, 4.10 to name a few) and inexpensive. As I recall, I spent $350 for my Colorado 3.73 limited slip, with ~15K miles. Perches were easy (and my first set ever, not like I am an old pro). Pictures either way!
I forgot to mention I will be running the original rebuilt engine (upgraded from a 235 to a 261) and running just the regular 6 lug tires. There will be no heavy use to it. The guy at the shop really seems to want to push the 12 bolt but that might be because he has done the work and research to get the parts and rebuild one. I did ask him what we would be doing for brakes (which the price did not include) and he said drums but said he would have to do a little more research in regards to what could be done for the e-brake which leads me to my question of can either the Colorado rearend or the 12 bolt rearend accomodate the cable e-brake set up that originally came on the '54? Also will both rearends accomodate stock wheels with the drum brakes that they use?
So I am not sure that the 12 bolt is the right answer... The rear end shop really wants the 12 bolt but it seems the Colorado is the more favorable option. I am having a hard time finding one in southern CA. I found this option on eBay and wanted to see what the opinions were on cost, condition, type, etc. The shipping is free. http://www.ebay.com/itm/311207952125?item=311207952125&viewitem=&vxp=mtr
Colorado rear... Steve, try www.car-part.com work your way down thru the menus (easy), and I am SURE there will be several. Homework required up front: Know what ratio you'd like (a 3.55/1 seems to be a common upgrade for the STOCK rear, 3.42 may be close enough in the new rear). Decide if you'd like an open diff, or a locking diff (option code G80). The E-brake cables run together on the drivers' side. I am sure it'll be capable of being tied in to the stock E-brake setup (I haven't gotten to that yet). Lastly, as I recall, in the Colorado 2wd and 4wd rears were different widths. Measure your current diff wheel-mounting-surface to wheel-mounting-surface, and compare it to the rear you are interested in. Know somebody with a 4wd Colorado? Ask them if you can jack up the rear, take the wheels off, and take a measurement. The dimension of the 2wd rear is in one of my posts.
a quick peek at car.part just now I selected the "Pacific" locale, and it showed 4 pages of rear axle assemblies... down to the two-hundred dollar range. Many complete with brakes.
Thank you Mike. Very much appreciated! This is a very good resource Mike. I am planning on going to a few of the places in Sun Valley which is relatively close to me and seeing which one would work. Thanks again for the very good resource.
Look what I picked up today..... Thanks to Mike's suggestion of www.car-parts.com as a resource to find parts I was able to pick up this little gem today. Picked it up for under $400 since I paid them in cash It is from a 2006 GMC Canyon and only has a little over 19k miles on it. As you can see from the pics, the E-brake cables are there, drums were all included as well as plumbing for the brakes (although I have questions about reusing that plumbing) The only thing I have a question/concern about is the axle housing themselves. The one on the right side seems like it is bent towards what would be the front of the truck. The one on the left side doesn't seem nearly as bad. Is that normal? It doesn't appear that anything has hit it or damaged it. In fact the axle housing, brake lines, etc still have the visible bar code stickers on them. Also on the back where the axle meets the center portion there appears to be a plug or something that holds the axle housing in? (see pics below) You can see on the left side it is there and on the right side it is missing. Each side seems to have 3. I assume they are important and help to hold the axle housing in place???? Any feedback on that would be helpful Lastly the plumbing for the brakes is in great condition. Almost like new. However in looking over the truck frame tonight I noticed that the brake line is meant to drop down to the rear axle on the right side of the truck and the Colorado axle has the brake line coming down in the middle of the axle. Should I just abandon using the brake line that came with it and get rid of the mounts (humps) on the top of the axle? I think those are the shock mounts but they also provide a mounting nut for the brake lines to attach to. Perhaps just leave to attach my own plumbing to? As always, any thoughts, suggestions, or input is always greatly appreciated to point me in the right direction on some of these things.
Steve, Nice score! You even got E-brake cables! If the piece appears BENT, take the time to make darn sure it is NOT before you alter it. Tough to see what you are talking about in pictures. If something DID occur, such as being struck from the side, the wheel would take the brunt of the impact, but it would likely bend the flange at the end of the axle. With assistance, set the rear up on horses, and spin the pinion shaft (maybe using a cordless drill with a socket on the pinion nut), observing the axle flanges for oscillation. And/or put a 4' level (or other suitable straightedges) centered across both wheel mounting surfaces, and measure for "toe-in" or "toe-out". If the piece IS damaged, return it. The shocks do not attach to the pads on the top of the tube. They attach to an ear on the plate which sandwiches the leaf spring. I don't know what those pads are for. I removed them. And although the brake lines on my rear were in similarly as-new condition, I removed them, as they didn't work with what I was doing (rear stabilizer-bar mounts). One last thing, assuming the rear is good. The differential lubricant does not need a limited-slip additive (if you scored a G80-optioned rear), as there aren't any clutches on that type of unit. Good luck. Keep us posted. Glad I was able to "help you" find what you were looking for!
Mike, I actually put it up on some jack stands and gave it a whirl with the drill. Everything seems to move fine. I will put a straight edge on it as well and take some measurements. It is leaking though at one of those plugs where the axle tube connects to the housing. That is concerning along with the missing plug in this picture: Where each axle tube connects to the housing there are 3 of these plugs. One is missing on this side but one of the other 3 is leaking. I am not sure if these plugs are something that is easily changed, normally changed that can stop the leaking. Any ideas on this? The picture below shows both sides. One in, one is not.
WARNING, I believe I would take that one back for exchange. I'm thinking those plugs are like heat rivets, and, it is how they attach the axle tubes to the center section. I'm guessing the vehicle was hit HARD. Not necessarily the axle itself, but, the sudden stop sprung it real bad.
Ah Man...... Steve - That is bad news. I was thinking about taking the pictures down to the rear end shop and getting their opinion, but I suppose that is is entirely possible. I know they do have a 90 day return policy. This is the thing I hate about buying used parts.....how do you know if what you are getting is a good part? This rear end only had 19k miles on it and it might be a piece of junk......and the problem I have is I am sure they do not have another....
It's going back I will load it up Friday and take it back. I called them and they said they would exchange it....I am not really sure what they are going to exchange it for....especially since this one only had 19k miles, was "carfax" certified, etc, etc....
don't sweat it! Steve, As long as they'll exchange it, its a win for you in the end. I wouldn't sweat the mileage part so much on the next one. If they find you a similar unit with 75K, no problem. You don't have SALT like we do, so corrosion isn't (much of) an issue. If the next one has high(er) miles, a set of seals is short money, and not a difficult task to replace (especially if you are going to pop the axles out to have the hubs turned down to fit stock wheels). It'll all work out.
An axle will go hundreds of thousands of miles if set up right. Oil changes aren't super necessary either. That drilled out rosette makes me very Nervous. I wouldn't use it.
Steve, glad you saw that before going through the effort of stripping parts/adding parts. Hopefully it isn't too far to the yard you got that from.
The yard is not too far away.... Exchanging it shouldn't be that big of a deal. The yard is about 25 minutes away. I commute almost an hour each way to my office so 25 minutes seems like just around the corner I am glad we figured it out before I did start working on it though. It would have been more financially painful if I would have started to tear it apart. Mike though has made me think forward to one of the next steps - the wheels and brakes. I just measured and realized that the drums on the newer differential measure about an inch bigger in diameter (13 1/4" versus 12 1/4"). Will this give me problems with using stock size wheels? Do I need to figure out a way to get the smaller drums back on? I don't have stock rims yet. The ones that came with the truck when I bought it were after market so I have no way of knowing if the stock ones will fit over the larger drum. Is this what you are referring to when you say "have the hubs turned down"?
No, the hub is the center of the axle. It's about a 4 inch circle that bumps out past the brake drum by about a 1/4 inch. Original wheels will not fit over this. One way to go is to use a 1/4 wheel spacer. This changes your wheel from being lug and hub centric, to just lug centric. (like an aftermarket wheel is) Is this a big deal? Probably not. As far as the drums being bigger, my stock 16" wheels clear with no problems. If you are using disc brakes up front, that is where you will run into problems with stock wheels as well. The 16" wheels I had need the 1/4 spacer to just clear the caliper. I'm not sure how it would have worked with 15" wheels... Anyway, good luck!
