Were all rear ends in 57 Fords 9" ? I found one that I can get cheap, but the car is sitting on the ground and I can't see the rear to ID it.
It should be nice and round ... and have a small drain plug in the bottom. Hope the brake drums are OK ... they are a little difficult to find in usable condition. The 57 rears came in two different styles ... one with the small bearing and the other with the large bearing. Both are desirable. The big bearing rears are usually found under station wagons, sedan deliveries, convertibles and retractable hardtops ... but I have found them under plain jane 2 doors with a six cylinder engine.
For brakes, I found that they (well, at least some of them) interchange up to '66. In '67, the spacing between the housing flange and the axle flange changed.
Sounds about right, I just found a 57 diff and was surprised to find it had the small wheel bearings and lighter axles, but still great for the price I paid for it. It is mainly the width that folks want them for. Smaller bearing housing will probably make it easier to find brakes say from a mustang etc.
Deuce is right. If it has the narrow drums they can be hard to find. But I found them fairly quickly.
Station wagons and Rancheros have the larger wheel bearings, 514003 or 88128RA BCA wheel bearing. My 57-59 housing has fill plug on the rear of the housing, none in the diff. The diff case has full webbing, instead of webbing stoppping toward the passenger side upper. I had to throw one housing away, 59 Edsel four door sunk into the dirt and rusted the housing. The car donated it's top for my A Tudor.
Are you sure they are all 9" in 57? I found one, and from the looks of the axle in this bucket 57, it looks like an 8. From the research I did on 9", the easiest way to identify them is by the bolts under the pinion... if you can get at them straight, its an 8. If its tough its a 9". here are the websites I found... http://dfwmotorsport.com/Fairlane/9inchrearends.htm http://www.kevinstang.com/Ninecase.htm
A personal favorite, the '57 rear. Shaped like an WW1 army helmet and the axle tubes had no shoulder. Look nice and clean if you can get them in full view.
I actually have 65 Galaxie backing plates and drums on my 57 housing. They are wider and have self adjusting brakes. PLUS ... all the brake stuff is easy to find and NAPA has it ALL brand new
I believe 1957 9" rearends have no dimples in the 'roundback' housing - a one year only deal. Dimpled 'roundback' housings started in 1958.
Deuce Roadster, what rear is yours- big or small bearing? Was the break swap a bolt on? What should I be looking for to do this? Thanks
Mine is a Big bearing ... but the swap works equally well on the small bearing ones. You just have to swap small for small and large for large I like to find a 65 Galaxie ... with the rear end under it and rob the backing plates, drums and related parts off it. I have a junk yard fairly close by with thousands of old vehicles ... so finding a 65 is no problem. This is my favorite junk yard
I was doing some research last night, and all the web sites I came upon said that all v-8 57 fords had 9" rears. This heap is a 6. Plus I am out of space to strip another car.... Thanks Gary
Even the 6 cylinder 57's had 9" rears. If you plan on putting any power or sticky tires on, get aftermarket axles. The 57's had a narrow taper that snap easily.
I got a 57 rear out from a car that sat in the dirt awhile (pitted some) 50 bucks pulled & they even loaded it. i went to blast it & it cleaned up nice but when i turned it back over it had half a dozen wet spots all over & in odd places where that sweet smellin 90 wt. was ouzzzzzin out! ----- must of sat in some bad soil. ------- so be prepared! but definitely worth getting/having!
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