I have this kid that is working for me, and part of his time goes towards paying off parts he needs for his 65 Chevy 1/2 ton truck. It was running/ driving, but some one rear ended it when it was parked on the side of the road. So the bed, rear end, trailing arms, etc are all damaged. He was working towards the replacement parts, and today, we noticed someone stole the rear end out of the truck that he was going to get for his... So, all I have for him now is a 3/4 ton rear..it actually would be a good one, has a locker in it.. are the trailing arms and all that interchangeable from 1/2 to 3/4? I just need to know so we don't scrap out something he needs down the road.. Thanks
I have a 3/4 ton suburban. just today I bought a lowering block kit for the rear. The lowering blocks supposedly fit the 1/2 ton and 3/4 ton trucks which leads me to believe the mounting pads and u bolts would line up to the 1/2 ton trailing arms. The problem would be that the 3/4 ton rear has 8 lugs and the hubs/axles stick way out of the drum. This means that putting a matching set of wheels on the truck would be a p.i.t.a. Obviously, you would have a mismatched set of brakes too. I would continue to look for a 1/2 ton rear end. it would save you a bunch of head aches down the road.
Wheels won't be a problem, I doubt he cares about brakes being different, but good points. The thing is, my parts are already bought and paid for by me, and he has been working towards getting the stuff he needs.. It was all cool till someone ripped off the rear end. Buying another rear end would make sense, but he doesn't work enough to earn the cash to buy a rear end from anyone else. I'm not going to buy one elsewhere for him, but I don't want to leave him hanging either. Its taken him 3 months to work 17 hours of the 30 for the stuff he needs.
If you haven't already check here: http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/index.php A rearend through '72 is a bolt in, through '70 I believe they were still 6 lug. There are several options he can try if he wants the same bolt pattern front and rear but given his financial situation I'd try to swap the 3/4 Ton for the correct rearend IF that is important. Being a locker it might give you guys a little leverage on the trade.
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