I am restoring 1965 C10. Changed the inline six to 350 sb. RPMs are out the roof @ 60 mph. I have a 4.10:1 one legger and want a limited slip rear end with a lower ratio. I am a newbie so you guys be patient with me. Anyone have a suggestion? Can just the chunk be changed to a new posi or does the whole rear end have to be swapped? Im all ears!!!
Hey, If your rear end is still original, you may want to swap it out with something like a 12 bolt rear end or something. I am building a '60 chevy street rod. I have a 454 under the hood, which is pushing close to 475 hp and 500 lbs/ft of torque. So I custom built a ford 9 inch and swaped my whole rear end with this one. I like the 9 inch not only because you can find parts for them, but they are virtualy indestructable. I'm also running 3.50 gears. Your gears depend on the amount of power you have and what you are doing with it, (street, strip, drag, towing, every day highway driver). I hope this helps. -superman
Thanks Superman for your help. You said you custom built your ford 9" rear end. I dont have that capability to do this myself. Do you know if there is a company that will do this? My 350 rebuild is going do be a semi-street daily driver (350 hp). I have stock three speed on column. Im thinking about maybe going with the 700 r4 and keeping my original rear end ratio for now, but that gets expensive as you know. Thanks for responding.
It sounds like you only need a basic all around gears. Personally, I'd go with the 700 r4 tranny. It's got better gear ratio's than the original trannies in the '65's. There's plenty of places that do the build ups if you can't. Check a local machine shop, and if they can't, I'm sure they can reference you to the guys that deal with rear ends. As far as a set of gears, if a lot of your driving is in town, 3.50 gears are plenty good, but if your driving is well spent on the highway, you'll want to go with 4.11's.
Check with someone like http://www.ring-pinion.com/home.shtml I would think you could find a gear set for the rear end if you want to keep everything looking the way it is and keep the three on the tree. You could always find a 71 or 72 truck rear end, easy swap, but then you have to deal with 5 lug axles.
[updated:LAST EDITED ON Sep-27-02 AT 11:24 AM (CST)]From the tone of your notes here, it sounds like you are looking for a do-it-yourself, bolt in solution. If you have limited knowledge of rebuilding rear ends, let the professionals do it. There are posi units by Eaton that will bolt up with a new gear ratio that will get you where you want to go. If it were me, I would do that with a full rebuild of the rear, axle bearings, crush sleeves, seals etc etc, and I'd have a pro do it. If you want to do it yourself, look for a rear in a wrecking yard with ratios around 3 : 70 to 3 : 33. Trucks from 65-72 will bolt right up. Dennis
