Thread: junk yard rear ends?

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I'm in the planning/budgeting process for a deuce highboy project. Rather than go with the new expensive 8 or 9" ford replica rearends I was wondering if anyone had suggestions for a used rearend that drops right into a deuce. I want to know what to search for in the junkyards. I was driving to work today and was noticing what looked like all the nice rearends on pickup trucks and SUVs. Are small pickup rearends strong enough to put behind a 350 chevy? Some look narrow enough. I just keep thinking there must be millions of OK rim to rim rearends just sitting out there. Suggestions?

Well, that 10-bolt is being used behind the new 5.3 vortec in the newest trucks. That engine puts out so much more torque than the old 350's ever did and the 10 bolt is holding up just fine. The 10 bolt is the smallest rear end I have seen under a truck, so I think it's safe to assume that all (at least GM) truck rear ends will hold up behind a 350. A safety margin is always nice, though, so you may want to move up to a 12 bolt. Differentials generally hold up better behind automatics than manuals, so you may want to take that into consideration.

If you do get that junkyard rear end, just check the wear pattern and make sure it's centered on the teeth of the ring gear. If this is the case, you've got yourself a good candidate axle. Before you install that axle, do yourself a favor and replace all seals and bearings. If your pinion breaks, no big deal just get a new one. If a bearing fails, you'll have to replace the entire axle and that will be expensive. When buying bearings, it's important to get good quality bearings. You can tell a good quality bearing because it will have more, smaller rollers as opposed to fewer, larger rollers.