9 3/8 posi carrier swap question

OK, so the 9 3/8 axle housings changed in '71 from one upper control arm and panhard rod to two upper arms, so you can't bolt a '70-back rear end into a '71-up Big Buick.

But were there any changes inside the housings?
- Specifically, will a '66 posi carrier bolt into a '71-up pegleg housing? :Brow:

 

well, over in the 'boat' forum we had pretty much concluded that the pinion gear was definitely not interchangeable (different shaft dimensions) but i'm not sure that anyone looked into just the carrier. or even the ring for that matter.

 

I well remember the lost thread on these axles...hackers :spank: !!!

I'd like to be able to just bolt in the posi carrier and keep the ring/pinion gears, housing, etc. :Brow:

OpH, you still hanging around?

 

yeah, i don't think they are interchangeable(i think the 66 is even different then a 68-70?) but my '70 has 2 uppers 2 lcas and no panhard.....did you mean the 71+ have a panhard and one uca?

 

The left and right carrier bearings on the '66 rear are the same size.
For '67 on, they are different sizes.

I learned about this recently when I sold a posi carrier from a '66 Riv on ebay.
I had several people kind enough to let me know the difference, since I had listed it as fitting '66 thru '70.

 

No...I'm not familiar with the pre-'71s, but I understand that before '71, at least some of the big Buicks only had one UCA and a panhard rod. (Yardley's website shows his '69 Riv to have a panhard rod, and I assume one UCA, but I can't tell)

The '70 rear end (complete) won't go into a '71 car, because the mounting ears for the control arms are in different places.

From '71 until they quit making the 9 3/8 rearend, I understand that they were all the same and would interchange across '71+ years and BOP big bodies.

So: It looks like there were 4 versions of 9 3/8 rearends:
('66 and back?) One UCA and a panhard rod, L & R carrier brngs same
('67 to '69?) One UCA and a panhard rod, L & R carrier brngs different
('70 only?) Middle, with 2 UCAs and no panhard rod, L & R carrier brngs different
('71 and later) Late, with 2 UCAs and no panhard rod, L & R carrier brngs different

I'm asking if the carriers (and other internal parts) are interchangeable across the versions. Specifically, can I swap something like a '66 posi carrier with a '71 open carrier, and keep the '71 ring/pinion, bearings, housing, etc?

 

Feel free to correct / add info

Of course, if anybody can add or confirm/deny any of the above, please do so. :TU: We really need to "rebuild" the lost thread info.

 

OK - How about this one?

Will a '70 posi carrier like this one will go into a '71 housing?

 

i don't know but i sure could use the ring and pinion out of that :Brow:

 

some time back my father told me that he'd like to race a late 60s riv because they had panhard bars from the factory. he made it sound like the panhard was used ONLY on the Riv. o No:

i dunno. he's been racing since the mid-60s and still has a chevrolet(!) 302 engine. he's usually pretty up on this kind of thing.

 

TTT - will a '70 carrier go into a '71-later housing?

Beuhler.....Beuhler?.....

 

Hmmmmmmm...

Seem to have a recollection that '67-70 9 3/8 carrier took 30 spline axles & the '71+ 9 3/8 took 31 spline axles. Realise the thread is gone, but can anyone remember who it was in PA (Yardley?) that was trying to have the 9 3/8 gears made 2 years ago??? This board contributor had examined ALL the differences in the different versions of the 9 3/8's r/e's :TU: & could prob post carrier stagger dimensions, etc.
:3gears:
Roger

 

I might, I mean just maybe, might soon have these two carriers to set next to each other. I've put posis in both of my 76 cars, which both have the later 9 3/8", and I still have at least one of the open carriers sitting around. And today, I might have found a posi for my 67 Riv from a 70 Riv at a local yard, which will free up its open carrier to use for comparison. This car is buried though, so it will be this weekend at the soonest before I can dig it out. It's not a GS, but I can just barely see the shiny tag under one of the cover bolts. Oddly enough, next to this car was a 68 Riv GS that had no "posi lube" tag.
A friend of mine has indeed already installed a 70 OLDS carrier in a 73 rear already though. Spline count was fine, but spline pitch was different. We had a local machinist narrow the splines on the 73 axles. We just took him one of the side gears so that he could match to it.

 

oPh is correct. Splines are different among other things. I have just had the two different carriers(67-70 vs. 71-75) sitting side by side. See this thread for more. By the way, the 70 OLDS rear I mentioned is a hybrid and doesn't apply to this.
http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=71740