heres a progression of my build... The truck was purchased by my step father a few years ago. Initially he was going to restore it and get it on the road but he unfortunately passed away from cancer 3 years ago now in 2013. I recently decided to take on the build and live his dream. I am 18 years old and taking an automotive program in college. I rebuilt my first 2 stroke engine at 16. My plans for the truck are to lower it a few inches, wide white wall tires, eventually a V8 and whatever else i think of.
1957 is all by itself it's rare to see one. Beware the dreaded " pinched" frame up front. If you stay wih the solid front axle Nostalgia Sid's is dropping them if lowering is what you want. On my '60 Dodge Panel I was able to find motor mount brackets at the wrecking yard that allowed me to put a small block mopar in no fuss. Some folks here aren't too cool with 50s Dodge pickups so heads up. I think they're cool. Right now I own a '52 and a '50. The 1950 has a Volare IFS and 318 poly that fit really well. The front frame on a '57 is considerably different. Good luck, Don
Thanks Don, i am planning on keeping the solid axle but im not too sure how sid does his work, do i send my axle in and he drops it?
Having just acquired a 1957 Dodge D100 myself, I will be following your progress. Your truck looks like a good one to start with. And it sounds like you have the determination to see it through. Good luck with it and keep the progress reports coming. lc
today I borrowed a 1950's chrystler hub puller to get the brake drums off the rear axle. The drums on the rear dont simply slide on and off, they are machined to the hub. Once I got both hubs/drums off i took the whole brake assembly off which was holding by 5 nuts and bolts. I may be upgrading all the brakes to disk but not sure about the rear yet. I also removed the axles and bearings and cleaned them up in varsol (solvent) to get all the old grease out.
1950's Chrystler hub puller. Uses 3 legs to bolt to the wheel stud/bolts and pushes on the axle to pull the hub
Both axles dont have much thread left so I will either bring them in to get redone or attempt doing it myself with a dye
Cool to see you started a build thread now, If you want while you have it out I would change the rear axle to a later 8.75, some of the 57's came with 8.75 some didn't it was the cutoff year for the "new" 8.75, but it had several flaws. this rear end is identifiable with tapered bearing which you have. I would find a nice 8.75 out of a B or E body Mopar the width is a perfect match , no narrowing required just moving the perches (pretty standard for any rear end you might swap) but the newer 8.75 will allow better access to parts availability and a Sure-Grip(Mopars version of limited-slip) and the aftermarkets offering of aftermarket brakes, including rear disk if you so choose that path. Also give you a Emergency brake on the rear since the stock one is on the driveshaft and if you update the drive train its gonna go bye-bye. The drop axle seams to be the way to go unless you op for a Dakota frame swap, but that sends you into a whole other ballgame, if doing the drop axle everything is pretty simple and down to earth to keep going, only problem ive ran into mine being my daily driver is the gearbox. its play is getting pretty bad and no more room to adjust, I have heard a few on here talk about a early 80's toyota box thats popular on GM trucks for upgrading. But I have not found any rebuild kits. If you find a kit let me know It might be the difference for me doing and not doing a frame swap later on. So far looks good I was really surprised to see how clean the truck is, very nice. most on here are pretty beat, so it refreshing to see some well taken care of. Good luck! Im here if you need any help.
i think i will stick to the drums in the back but get a disk kit for the front. On the rear i plan on replacing all the brake parts with new ones if available which seems like it is, main thing i cant find are drums.
Found a site to make it real easy to understand.... http://hotrodsandhemis.com/PolaraRearBrakes/TaperedAxleBrakes.html
I have/drive Ford's but always liked Mopar's too thanks to my Dad working for a dealer in the 60's as a trans R&R mechanic. Especially your year 57, almost bought a bigger 500 series for a hauler project once years ago. Subscribed!
That info is extremely useful. I just looked online for '65-70 8.75 complete diffs and i cant find any for under 2000$ which is way out of my budget. might have to go look in some scrap yards
I was lucky and traded some work for a friend and he gave me my 8.75 out of his 69 Roadrunner, I hope you come up with some good deal.
Maybe a explorer 8.8 would be a good rearend choice. Im not sure how close the width is but i bet its close. They are everywhere often come with disc brakes. Alot were posi with 3.73 gears. They are tough too. I swapped to one in my 60 pontiac mine was a non posi with 4.10 gears and I added a posi to it. Think I payed $50 for mine. That's just my 2cents Anyways I like the project I think it'll look great lowered with white walls and ideas on paint color? Or just leaving it the way it is? Ryan Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
ill have to look into that, prices are we cheaper and parts are available for it and id get the bonus of disk brakes, thanks for pointing that out Ryan; and for paint im thinking keeping it red, not sure if i want matte or gloss. The wheels will be gloss black smoothies with chrome baby moon caps
I had that rear end in my '63 when I got it. It was a bitch, I had to have the drums on an off a few times and eventually I ended up getting a '66 8.75 out of a D100 with 3:55 gears. The rear ends in the 70's Dodges should fit, i think at most they're off by 1/16 at the perches. You could even get a 5 lug spicer out of one of those later ones too. That's what I'm gonna be doing, the drums for the '66 rear end are just as scarce now.
Glad I can help. If I remember right it's 53" between the backing plates might be wrong. Also if you need any advise on metalwork or anything feel free to ask, I am a fabricator at a restoration shop I'd be happy to give you my advise. Also sorry to hear about your step dad. I lost my father suddenly two years ago, it's rough as hell but all I can do is make him proud now Ryan Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
The 61 and up Dodges were Way wider, the rearend is not even close they are over 4 inches apart I believe its around 60' inches wide for the pre-1961 and 65' for the post 1961 trucks. The brakes are almost all interchangeable through all years with minor modifications. personally I wouldnt waist my time putting a 8.8 in there. 8.75 are pretty abundant rears they are the strongest rearend next to a Dana 60/ have a quick change third member/ huge aftermarket and it is the factory rearend your truck came with. I just shake my head when people put Ford 9 inches in these when 8.75 are a better all around rearend I even have an article in Hotrod from a few years back puting the two against each other with the Mopar winning. if your gonna cheap out go for it, but I always like to take my time and do it right IMO, but hey its your truck build it how you like. If you do end up going with the 8.8 and you are running a V8 you will have to do a little beefing up like welding the tubes to the diff because it has these little plugs that wear out pretty quick. (mustang guys know what im talking about) they can be nice rear end when they are beefed up but if you are continuing to run the 6 they should hold no problem.
As RY guy 442 stated above, I'd go with an 8.8" rear axle from a Ford Explorer, they are plentiful in Junkyards, Cheap (I paid 75.00) and come with nice disc brakes already installed. They are 5 on 4 1/2" bolt pattern as well. They come in 3.55, 3.73, and 4.10 ratios and many have limited slip diffs. All you have to do is adapt the parking brake cables, modify the driveshaft, and move the spring perches
There are pros and cons to every rearend. When I put the 8.8 in my car people had a fit because they said the old one was as strong if not stronger. But to me I wanted mine to be posi and just the posi unit for the old one was $1000 not counting gears, and if broke parts in it I was shit out of luck. With the 8.8 any parts store would have parts and there is plenty of aftermarket parts to make it as strong as you want. Also explorers arnt known to be driven real hard so you know it wasnt abused like some truck rearend are. I did weld the tubes to the housing on mine. I planed on racing against my fathers car so I knew I'd be launching it ( and it's a very heavy car ) If you plan on just cruzing and driving everyday with it there's no need to weld it up. If you keep the 6 cylinder it can't break it. Just my thoughts you make up your own mind and build it your way....after all your the one who will be driving it and fixing what breaks. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
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