DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT THE STOCK GEAR RATIO A 66 CHEVY STEP WOULD HAVE IN THE REAR, MY TRUCK HAS A 350 ZZ SERIES CRATE MOTOR THAT HAS A LOT OF TORQUE, SO IM WONDERING IF THE ORIGNAL REAR IS GEAR OK AND CAN HANDLE THAT POWER, IT ORIGINALLY ONLY HAD THE IN-LINE 6!?
[updated:LAST EDITED ON Oct-29-04 AT 03:40 PM (CST)].... or 3: 73 Those two were the most common by far.... dv
i drove my 64 c10 about a year with the stock rear and a 500 cadillac engine.it held up fine.the reason i changed it was to get a better ratio.
easiest way to check your rear end gear without pulling the cover looking from the rear forward;Ill try to explain this one step at a time so i dont loose you,there is a number and letters stamped on your axle housing to the right side of the chunk,not exactly ontop but just forward,if looking down the axle tube rr wheel back towards chunk around 1 o'clock 1/2 size letters and numbers,(dont give up they are really there) start scraping and wire brushing you wont rub em off,the numbers are date manufactured,in 66 your letters will be for a 1/2 ton HA = 3.73 HB= 3.07 HC=3.73 posi traction HD=4.11 JQ=411 posi Hope this helps ya
New guy here- I'm currently having my rearend rebuilt in my 66 c-10. My mechanic sez I can't get anything taller than 3.73's in the carrier. Is this true? I would rather have 3.07's.
Yeah that's what he said ( I double checked with him today). I'm converting from the "hard to find" coarse axles to the finer ones, and getting new gears. Bummer that I have to install brand new 3.73's instead of something more forgiving on the freeway. I don't look forward to doing an AOD swap...I did one on my fastback and it is expensive. I could have probably gone with a Gear Vendors overdrive for the same or less amount of money. Is it difficult to install a Gear Vendors to a Turbo 350 in a 66 Fleetside Longbed?
if your changing the axles,why not get a later 3.08 truck rearend and swap out the innards.ive read that the 65 and later rearend innards will interchange.if im wrong someone will speak up.
Too Late. I pick up my truck tomorrow. Next time I'll pay more attention to parts interchangeability. I'm new to the Chevy cult, so I was unaware of larger housings being available. Apparently I have the smaller housing, so even 3.08's wont fit. Pretty much all the internals are brand new, with the later fine splines on everything. Who knows, I may pick up another rear end in the future, just not right away. Has anyone put a Gear Vendors overdrive in a 66?
