I told my buddy I wanted to upgrade the rearend in my 59 ElCamino and he came up with this, narrowed 4.10 full floater with an Eaton posi I believe it's early 60s Chevy truck. It is a bolt in to a 59 ElCamino. It was built by the owner of RCD engineering many years ago. It comes with the 15 inch 8 lug Ansens. Can anyone positively ID this. I have not seen it yet,
probably 60s-72 chevy truck. I don't know when the brakes got smaller diameter like that, they were narrow in the late 50s. probably has a casting date code on the center section, and you can figure out the shoe size and do some looking on rockauto to see what years those were available. And probably date code stamped on the ring gear, as well, if you take it apart.
Agree with Squirrel, that removable rear cover is like the 3/4 or 1 ton Chevy truck rearend. 8 lug is truck for sure.
Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Lots of better choices available out there that you would be happier with in the long run.
Many years ago.... Guys forget that these were once fairly popular with some racers before high-strength aftermarket axles became available. Most came with low ratios, were tough enough to take a serious beating, and because they were full-floaters, a broken axle wasn't a disaster.
Yep, have a good friend that use to race a late 50's early 60's vette at mo-kan years ago with a 1 ton rear and 5:13 gears if I remember correctly. 265 small block chevy that left the line at 10,000 rpm and rear bumper scraping the track then shift at 8000. Would have been faster with the nose down but wouldn't have been as cool to watch or as well known back then. Buddies used to say the best part was watching the starter flag men when it hit 10 grand as thet dropped the flags. Said some of the flag guys would about hit the ground the minute the clutch was dropped and it stood on its tail..... Ah the good ole days.....
Eaton, HO52, HO74? My buddy had an AD flatbed with one that I put a V8 in. Had really deep gears in it. Some info here. https://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/axles/1 Ton Upgrade/
There are better options sure, but they cost a hell of a lot more than 300 bucks, and don't have the old school cred. It's a bolt in. Don't know if or how long I will use it. I an building a pretty stout 383 with a crossram and a 4 gear to put in front of it. Look up RCD engineering, it's a cool lineage
Do the five lug front wheels have the correct bolt pattern for the El Camino? If so, you don't have much to lose by installing it. Probably get a lot of conversations about it later on.
It's the matching front and rear wheels that were run on his 59 ElCamino back in the 60s or 70s. I have always leaned towards the old school street racer theme, and think it's pretty cool. He got tired of chucking spider gears too.