Customs 54 Chevy 210 - Rear diff size?

Good afternoon all,

First time poster, long time lurker here. My name is Jon and I live in Aurora, CO. I recently picked up a 2 door 1954 Chevy 210 and am having a hell of a time figuring out what the stock differential size is on these cars. Can someone here enlighten me? My google skills appear to be lacking and I didn't see a similar topic in the threads I searched here.

I would check serial numbers but the car is not currently with me. I am having a 350 installed (keeping the 235 for rebuild and reinstall in the future).

 

Useless for the most part and weak. . Gearing was 3.55 to 4.11. Enclosed torque tube. Trans not easily adaptable to the rear of a SBC block.
Usual rear swaps are 55-7 Chevrolet’s, early Camaro, Nova, Broncos, 57-57 Fords, etc anything close to 56-7” . Today 8.8’s out of V6 Rangers and Explorer’s.

 

Yikes. Thats what I was worried about. Thank you.

 

Just to confirm, 56" should be the right size rear?

 

Wear are you located?

 

Aurora, Colorado

 

Never mind apparently I am forgetful as well as being blind

 

Since your in Colorado, i am guessing it would be too time consuming to tell you to come over and pick up a Chevy 10 bolt rear.

 

haha, yeah. just a little out of the way.

 

You can google and find GM , Mopar and Ford rear end widths . I am not ambidextrous enough to link any list with my fat fingers on this puny phoneamajig . Consider whatever you can grab in a 4 1/2”/4 3/4” bolt pattern because you can easily purchase a dual bolt pattern round thing for a spare .

 

My Dad has a 1953 Club coupe and just sold a 1953 and a 1954 Chevy . He had my Mopar A body 8 3/4 3.55 Suregrip under the ‘53 . When he decided to sell that one I asked him to remove it and if I recall he either stuck another Mopar or a Nova rear under it.

 

Just thinking a nice Chevy 12 bolt or a fancy quick change would look very cool under your car ​

 

Seeing rear ends from a 68 Camaro and 79 Camaro here locally on craigslist. If I am reading this past thread correctly (https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1953-chevy-210-rear-axle-swap-help.672933/), a rear axle off a 68 Camaro should fit. Not sure sure about the 79 Camaro.

 

we did the same 1957 chevy rear in our 1951 bel air. it's a 3.36 gear. it was a bolt in project. we are using a 250 chevy and an aluminum powerglide. a lot of people sell the 55-57 differential and swap in a 9 inch to build a gasser, usually around a hundred bucks.

 

3 speed cars were 3.70; PG is 3.55
The PG version is worth selling to someone keeping the torque tube in an earlier car.

 

If I am not mistaken both camaro rears are approximately 60"wide wheel mounting surface to wheel mounting surface. I used a 70 nova rear in my 53 it was perfect width. @Moriaty is correct the the centering hole does need to be forward about 1 1/2 inches. there was a thread that I cannot locate with years and widths on rear ends out of all makes. That is what I used to locate what I needed.

 

Thank you. I see the years and widths in the link I included in my last post.

 

It was the norm to put a 55/57 Chevy rear end under a 54 when you went to open drive.

This pfd has the rear end on print page 29 but you will refer to it more than once before you are done.
pages (gmheritagecenter.com)
If that doesn't open click on Chevy cars and then 1954 when the next page opens Vehicle Information Kits - GM Heritage Center

 

I used a s10 4x4 rear end.

 

Did the same, worked good. Has to be a 4x4 rear as the regular 2 wheel drive rear is too narrow.

 

Just meet him halfway, in Utah. Sheesh! Do I gotta 'splain this stuff?

 

No. As you probably have figured out by now from prior posts, the rear width is closer to 60”.

Ray

 

When my son and I built his '54 we used a 10 bolt rear from a '81 or so Cutlass, fit good and he has some good size tires under it.

 

55-57 Chevy
1st and second generation camaro / fire bird
4x4 s10’s perches need to be moved
Grenada’s and other fords that size
Novas and the like, again perches need to be moved


55 and later car or truck bell housing will allow you to bolt a more modern 4 or 5 speed behind the 235

bunch of different companies make adapter kits to bolt up a newer auto trans as well.


Cool cars I like em !!!

 

Just remember, the center pin/bolt on the stock springs is not in the center of the wheel opening. So you will have to make a new spring pad with the hole off centered. And with my son's car those stock springs did not last long without the torque tube in place, they wrapped up. We built some "Cal-Track" style traction bars and got some new springs to fix that.

 

Also know that the bearings for the ‘55 rear end are a bit more pricey than the ‘56-‘57.

 

Here's some rear end width info, wheel mounting surface width.
You need to measure yours, centerline of spring perches, as well as width of spring perches. Check the rear ends you are going to purchase.
The spring perch centering pin was also mentioned above, either drill the spring ( not easy) or make a block that will locate the both pins and center the rear in the wheel opening.
4x4 S10 seems to be a good starting point. They should be 8.5" ring gear.

If you can grab the springs, driveshaft and brake lines with junction block from the don't vehicle they may all be useful.

http://www.carnut.com/specs/rear.html

 

The GM Heritage Center site is so useful. Great resource.