Replacement rear for my 69 GS

So the main reason my 69 has been out of commission for so long is a broken bushing mount for the upper control arm on the rear. I was hoping to have it repaired, but my friend, who is a union boiler maker and the best welder I've ever met, assures me that it's not practical to repair. The rear is an 8.2 posi w 3.42 gears from a 70 GS 350 I parted out 20 years ago. I Have a in my collection, a complete rear from a 85 GN. I was just going to swap it in but, the narrower rear would push the tires into my exhaust and I don't want to use spacers or run aftermarket wheels.
I found a guy locally who has a 8.5 nonposi with 2.56 gears from a 71 cutlass that i could pick up for $300, but then I would need to buy gears and posi on top of that. I am looking for advice and opinions on the right way to go. I'm running a turbo regal 200r4 and 295/60r15's and like the drivability of 3.42 gears.

 

Post a wanted ad for a 1970 skylark rear and transfer your posi and gears into that. Way cheeper and a lot less work if you just find a 8.2 rear to redo.

 

Ryan, thanks. Great idea. I'd also be willing to swap the GN rear for the correct rear already set up to run in my 69 GS

 

You can take the gears and the carrier from the GN rear and put them in the correct housing. The GN rear is worth some coin though..

 

I have a clean 8.2 housing in shelby ohio.

Bare housing. It has same size carrier bearings, bolt in axle style.....but it's the housing. Does your use the same size carrier bearing on both sides or not

 

Send some pics...Will ID it for you. Jim

 

Jim I will try to get pics tomorrow....I believe my empty housing is a pontiac 8.2 housing. I know for sure it's an 8.2, bolt in axles, internal oil seal, same size carrier bearing on bolt sides

 

Yah...He needs a BUICK only housing from 68 69 70 That is it. 8.25 rear 724 or 700 last three digit casting.

 

I have the correct Buick housing,if you want to go that route.
The 71-72 8.5” is a good alternative,but $300.00 for a 2:56 non-posi core is a little much. If you do swap to the 8.5”,you will need to shorten your driveshaft.

 

I am very tempted to accept your offer, especially since it would be a direct swap with my existing internals. However it looks like you are 8 hours one way from me and especially with the all the COVID-19 concerns, I don't think it is feasible right now.
The 71 8.5 is local to me, like next town over, local. It is supposedly very clean, rust free, low mileage core. I think for now, I'm just going to go that route and swap the ring and pinion and and posi later. At least I can get the car moving around and start shaking out and other gremlins from it sitting.

However, I didn't realize that I was going to have to shorten my driveshaft. That adds a whole new problem...

 

Fastenal ships pretty cheap for things like this.

 

I will check today, I didnt realise what i had was call an 8.25........I did know the early buick rear housing and internal parts were their own.......but given the age of the vehicle the OP posted I didnt want to assume it was sporting the factory unit still.

So the was the chevy rears call 8.2 as well or were they called something different

 

Chevy proper term is 8.125 ...lol
They all get thrown in the same 8.2 as were all lazy and over years stuff gets mixed up and messy. TRYING to help weed all this out.

 

As of last week,Fastenal is currently not shipping freight.

 

Hello, Is that Bare housing still available? While cleaning mine for paint yesterday, it fell off of the stands and I lost the upper control arm ear( it is out of the car) . I do have someone who says that he can weld cast for me, so I am going to try that first. But definitely would like to be able to have a go to if this doesn't work. Mine is in a 69 stage 1 conv. Thanks

 

Your housing is now junk. I would not try to weld it.

 

Will not work...You need the BUICK 68-70 BUICK ONLY 8.25 housing.... carrier bearings are DIFFERENT sizes on your stage 1 car. Both same bearings ARE NOT the correct housing to swap the parts from one rear to the other.

Sorry.

 

I have a VERY nice 68-70 8.2” Buick housing,if needed.It either came in a late 68 or early 69,to be exact.
I also have another 8.2” Buick that came out of a 69 for sure. It has some minor pitting in random areas,but would still make a nice one. This one also has the 12:00 cover bolt broke off,so it will need extracted.

 

Hello, What would you like for the housing? Is it the same carrier bearing style or the two different bearing style? By your area code, you are about 5-6 hours from me. Would you ship? Thank you

 

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