I decided to have the 3.42 posi rear end rebuilt that i had purchased for my 1968 riviera to replace my 3.08 one legger. I took it apart and saw that there was some wear to the bearings, nothing major, but before I put it back in the car, I thought I'd do the right thing and have new bearings put in. That way i wouldn't waste my time putting a differential with bearings that may fail into my car. However...........what's the deal with these rearends? Trying to find someone who carries a bearing overhaul kit is next to impossible. When I do find a kit, it contains the wrong bearings. Has anyone had one of these rebuilt? Where is a good place to get the bearings, shims. crush colllar, pinnion seal, etc. Do I have to take it apart and go to my local bearing house(motion industries) and piece it together piece by piece? Any advice would be appreciated. I didn't think this would be that big of a deal. I guess I should be use to it, being a buick enthusiast and all.ou: Thanks Brett Schmahl
I am not famliar with Rivs. I presume it is an 8.2. Call: Olcar Bearing Co. Southern Pines NC (910) 693 3324 Jim Lore
Is Olcar Bearing Co a bearing house, or are they a differential repair shop? I ask, because I'm not sure what type of rearend it is. When I call places they tell me its an 8.2 BOP diferential. But when I get the parts, they are never right. Brett
Brett, It's a 9 3/8" rear, and from what I've learned here, no one makes parts for it. :ball: (sans bearings though, I bet a bearing house could hook you up.) There has been an ongoing thread about these rears in the 'Boatload of fun' section. A fellow named Ed Leaman (sp?) has been doing alot of leg work in getting gears and such made for it. You may be able to hunt down that thread for some answers. I could use a crush sleeve myself. :beer
Dude... sucks to be you! What happened to you Tuesday night? The High Life is gone... were on the Honey Weiss now. Good Luck with the rearend!:beer
don't know anything about the 9 3/8" rears, but an easy way to identify the smaller ten bolts is that the 8.5 has 'corners' in the housing below the diff cover, visible from the back. the later 7.5's had 'teeth' in the same place, while the 8.2's lack anything as easily distinguishable?
thanks for the information guys.....not exactly what I wanted to hear, but thanks anyway. Bearings....I'll be able to find them at a bearing house.....I hope. Oil seal....ditto..... Crush sleeve and shims might be difficult though. Anyone have any suggestions. As for furious_goat..........do you guys know that this man is a die hard pontiac fan. At least he finnally got rid of the rotting GTO and got him self a cool a ride. a 69 lesabre with a high compression 350, TA intake, dual exhaust. sweet ride. Too bad he's still in to pontiacs. Anyway....Thanks for the help with the differential. Any, and I mean any additonal leads may be helpful. Brett
Well Brett, I have good news and bad news... The good news is: NAPA has (can get) the correct bearings for you. The bad news is: 1) No pinion seal that my rear guy has found is the right one. We are on the 3rd one and mine still leaks. 2) These are NOT like ANY OTHER REAR and can not be setup as such. The settings are different. I can send you the specs so your guy can do it right. If he does it like a Chevy rear it'll let go (trust me on that one). 3) There are NO MORE CRUSH COLLARS AVAILABLE. Over a year ago I had a Buick Service Manager buddy run a national parts locator for a crush collar. He sent me a printout of all the dealerships that listed them in stock. I called all of them. Some no longer had them. Of the ones that did, I bought ALL of them. I was able to find 7. I used one, kept one and posted the other 5 for sale on the Riviera email group. They sold in less than 2 minutes. Your guy will just need to shim the one that is in there. The OEM part # is 1367830. It is shaped (oddly enough) like a wedding ring. It is about 1/2" tall, not like the others I've seen. Speed shops are useless for this as well. They'll sell you a standard collar that is nothing like the one you need. A rear from a '76 Lincoln Continental is only 1" wider than ours. Relocating all your mounting bracketry to another rear isn't a bad idea. I know someone who did it in his 69 Riv. He had to hunt for a compatible rear yoke to weld onto the tail of the shaft so the "halo" yoke that mates to the pinion would fit (my driveshaft guy found a yoke off a Chevy (S10 I think?) shared the same U-joint size as our Rivs. So that's what he used). My buddy had no problems with the solid driveshaft hitting the center box of the X-frame.
Far out, he's not far from where I went to college (Kutztown). If anyone talks to him, please let me know what he says. We in this club have been trying to get a set of rear gears made for these cars. It looks to have stalled for now. The buzz was for a set of 4.10 gears. Very few of us wanted such steep gears, but the gent who was pushing for this wanted them. Which is fine. But if he can get the 4.10s made, maybe sometime down the road we can get 3.88s or something like that made. The gent is sure there were some 4.10s made as a rare option for the 9 3/8 Buick rear. My info has shown no gears lower than 3.42 were available in the 66 - 70 Rivs. The 63 - 65 Rivs offered a slew of rear gears (up to I think 4.88) but they went away with the change to the 66 body style and the new rear design.
Hey Guys, I have a complete posi rear out of a 72 boattail I'll sell for 200 bucks. The rear is in Great shape but has TALL gears.
Won't fit, as GM changed to a "Corporate" rear by then. The 67 - 70 Riv rears look like something out of a duely military truck.
Jeff, I found out that what I thought was a 3.42 posi out of my old '66 is actually a 3.07.:ball: I don't have the code that is stamped on it here at work. But thats what it cross referenced to in my '66 service manual. Before I checked the code, I spun the pinion flange and counted the revolutions compared to the axle flange and it was so close to 3 to 1 that I looked into it further. I have a sneaking suspicion that alot of people that think they have a 3.42 like I did, may really have a 3.07.
Wow. That's too bad Dale. My original 3.07 is stored and dry in my basement. I hope I never need it again. If I ever (God forbid) jettison my 3.42, I will have my mounting brackets transferred to a Ford 9" or a Dana rear. That way I can run any gears I want. And the phords are pretty reasonable, too.
Forgive me. I'm a bit sleep deprived this week from printing campaign literature till 10 at night most every day this week. :sleep: (the printer is always the last to know about a project :af: I need this tomorrow) :spank: When Jeff mentioned lower gears, I was thinking numericaly lower, not lower as in a 4.11 being lower than a 3.42. DUH! on my part. :beer
I think I may of found something that will work to rebuild the rearend. I have the rearend partially disassembled, and I'll need to fully dissasemble (pull all bearings and races) to verify it. I was refferred to a company called racetech by one of the drivetrain shops I was working with. I talked to the owner their, and he knew exactly what I had. He also said he had all the parts for it. Described it to a T. "10 bolt cover, 12 bolts on ring gear, two different sized carrier bearings, one large ID pinnion bearing, and an odd crush collar". He gave me the bearing numbers in the kit to verify. So far I was able to verify that the carrier bearings are correct and one of the pinnion bearings are also. I need to pull the large pinnion bearing to verify this, and I need to get him a measurement on the thinckness of the crush sleeve to make sure it's the right one. I'll take it apart tonight, and I should know for sure on monday. Hopefully this works. It sure seemed promising, cuz this guy knew EXACTLY what I was talking about. I will keep everyone updated. Brett
yardley, Would you be able to forward me the information on setting up the rear end correctly, so that I may pass it on the person setting up my rear end (provided I find the parts). Thanks Brett Schmahl
I'll scan it and email it to you - probably on Monday. Unless I can do it at home this weekend (got a lot going on... will be bolting the Riv back together and ND is playing in South Bend Saturday...). Email me your address and I can copy it on Monday and overnight it to you. It'll probably come out better than printing a scanned image. In eiter case I'll get you the specs. The 69 should be the same as the 68. I know all the gear ratios and the case are the same. jeff_holthenrichs@cisgi.com
67 - 70 Riv posi for sale from GS (3.42) http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8406 In the "For Sale" section. It is from a 70 GS Riv, so unless someone special ordered the car with a "Non-Standard" rear, it is a 3.42 posi.
