The 12 bolt rear that I removed from my car does NOT have the rubber pinion snubber directly on the rear end housing itself. Instead, the snubber is screwed into the rear chassis crossmember directly over the rear end housing. However, a race car fabricator is telling me that his rear suspension set-up for GM A-body cars has a piece that must be bolted to the pinion snubber holes on the rear end housing itself. But there aren't any pinion snubber mounting holes located directly on my 12 bolt rear end housing Do any of you guys have a 12 bolt rear in your Buicks? If so, where is the pinion snubber located on your car? Is it on the rear end housing itself, or mounted above the housing on the chassis crossmember like it is on my 70 Chevelle, as well as on my brother's 69 Buick GS?
c'mon guys...someone here has to have a 12 bolt rear in their car. I just was wondering if any of you have the snubber piece located on the housing itself, instead of on the chassis.
I don't think I have ever seen a pinion snubber mounted to the rear housing. Maybe I just never noticed. But I really don't think it would matter where it was located as long as it was aligned correctly.
Pinion snubber? I dont think my 70GS has a pinion snubber, but it has a snubber on each side of the housing that prevents the lower control arms from bottoming out(I think thats what they are for) I had a 87GN, it had a pinion snubber mounted directly above the pinion... Bert
Thanks for your replies. The reason that it DOES matter, is because this guy is telling me that one of the pieces to his rear suspension kit that he sells, must be bolted to the rear end housing where the pinion stubber usually goes. But I don't know what this guy is talking about since I've yet to hear of, or see a GM A-body 12 bolt rear that has the threaded holes for a snubber right on the housing.
I've never seen a 12-bolt with a pinion snubber bolted to it nor have I seen tapped holes in the rearend where one might bolt to it. However, my '72 Estate Wagon came from the factory with a pinion snubber bolted directly to the rearend. This car featured leaf springs and the "big car" rearend so I'm not even sure if the other big cars (with the same rearend) came with the snubber, especially the coil sprung cars. I'd be interested to hear more about the suspension package this guy is selling.
NO Pinion snubbers on GM 1965 -1972. They just use the flat part of the cast housing for that. The chassis rear cross member that holds the spring pockets and rear frame area square has a rubber snubber mounted to the middle inbetween the upper control arm area. That is it. The other snubbers are on the axle out board the spring perch. On the El camino and heavy duty vehicle option application they had metal extention risers that made the snubber mount 1/2" to 3/4" higher on the axle shaft snubber pad . Hope this info helps. If someone knows anyextra to add please do. I usually deal with diffs out of the car...BUT have owned many A-body gm cars. Jim
Yes Jim, that info DOES help me out. Thanks to you and to all of you for replying to my inquiry. This is exactly what I thought, so I haven't any idea what this race car fabricator was talking about. I'll have to correct him on that when and if I talk to him again.
FYI My GS is all original and in the middle of a frame off restoration. There is a hole, right over the pumkin area for a rubber snubber but I believe our buicks never had one installed. I have seem them on Chevelles. George
Exactly what do you mean by "over the pumpkin area"??? If you are talking about the threaded hole on the chassis crossmember that IS located over the pumpkin then that's exactly what I explained earlier in this thread. yes, that's exactly what my Chevelle has, but the entire point that I've been making here in this thread is that the rubber snubber is NOT mounted onto the rear end housing (aka "pumpkin") itself, but this race car fabricator is trying to tell me that it is. And from what I've seen and have also been told here in this thread, that is just plain wrong.
There is a threaded hole on top of the pumpkin for the brake line T block. I've never noticed one directly over the pinion shaft.
Now that's ^what this guy was talking about. I just spoke to someone who already has his set-up on his car, and he told me that it's the axle snubbers that are just outboard of the spring perches.
MOPAR has pinion snubber on rearend above pinion. Factory has a short one on it. You can purchase what they call an adjustable pinion snubber for them. It raises the rubber snubber close to body to help plant rear downward. Maybe thats what he is talking about. I've owned many dodges in my time.:grin:
