I have a 1960 Buick Invicta that I'm pulled the axles on. One side had a sealed bearing and the other the old ball bearing type. I friend gave me some axles out of an early full size buick since his already had the sealed bearings. The other reason for the swap was the fact that the later axles had the mounting studs on the hub rather than the old type that you had to run a bolt thru the wheel and into the hub. I prefer the stud set up on the later axles. When I went to insert the axles, I noticed that when I had them inserted in the the center housing, it seemed like I could'nt push them in any farther. I didn't want to damage anything so I pulled the new axles out and measured them compared to the original ones. It looks like the later axle is about 1 MM or 3/16 of an inch longer. Should I continue to try and install them with a little lube and perhaps a wooden pursuader to get the axle to seat all the way in or should I have about 3/16th machined off? I was under the impression that the 1960 axles would be interchangeable with 62 or 63 full size buick axles. I look forward to your comments. I'm hoping ZMAN see's this post since he seems to have a wealth of information and guidance on these old buicks.
My guess is you have later axles with a different spline count. The axle shaft spline count changed over the years: 1937: 10 spline axles (Series 80 and 90) 1937-1955: 12 spline axles (Series 40, 50, 60, and 70) 1938-1942: 13 spline axles (Series 80 and 90) 1956-1962: 33 spline axles (fullsize) 1963-1970: 30 spline axles (fullsize) 1971-1976: 31 spline axles (fullsize) The length also changed: 1956-1958: 29.5 in. right, 27.25 in. left (Series 40 and 60) 1956: 31.0625 in. right, 29 in. left (Series 50 and 70) 1957-1958: 30.5 in. right, 28.25 in. left (Series 50, 70/75, and 700) 1959-1960: 30 in. right, 27.75 in. left (all fullsize) 1961-1962: 30.5625 in. right, 28 in. left (all fullsize) 1963: 30.5625 in. right, 28.25 in. left (all fullsize, excl. Riviera) 1963-1965: 29.5 in right, 27.1875 in. left (Riviera)
buford26 Thank you very much. This information is invaluable. I also hope that it will be useful by others.
One millimeter is about .040"........much less than 3/16"...... .125" is 1/8". 3/16" is .1875....about 4.9 millimeters. The extra axle length is not insignificant to the fit.