6 lug rear to 5lug rear swap help?

[65Guy]

When i bought my 65 it had been converted to 5 lug disc in front and 5 lug rear. When i pulled off the rear drums i noticed that a little more than hlf the shoe was contacting to drum. In reading i guess that they are newer axles and it is unsafe. my question is on the 70ish factory 5lug trailing arm rearends are the axle tubes longer or are to backing plates longer or what is the differance. I need to fixit as cheap as possible. I dont want to buy new axles at $250. Thanks guys.

[lolife99]

The cheapest solution is to install a 71-72 rearend.
Your 65 rearend housing is the same as the 67-(early)70 6-lug housings,... which are narrower than the 71-72 housings. (1-1/2 total width narrower)
If you keep your 65 rearend,... the only solution is to buy aftermarket axles.

Some say you can put a spacer behind the backing plates to move them out.
But I don't reccomend this. (just my opinion)

[ksbrktracer]

It sounds like someone has put 71-72 axles in your housing ....which is narrower than 71-72 housings. I am only guessing though. If that is the case you gonna have to buy axles which are available through the aftermarket in five lug to fit your housing, the other option would be to put a 71-72 rearend in it , If you had some 65 axles you could have them redrilled to 5-lug and put those back in ....

[ksbrktracer]

beat me to it.......

[65Guy]

so the 65 rearend is narrower? and it is not the sameas 71-72 with longer backing plates?

[N2TRUX]

Originally Posted by 65Guy

so the 65 rearend is narrower? and it is not the sameas 71-72 with longer backing plates?

Correct.

[lolife99]

Originally Posted by 65Guy

so the 65 rearend is narrower? and it is not the same as 71-72 with longer backing plates?

Actually the 71-72 axle tubes and axles are longer.

If you redrill a set of stock 6-lug axles,... you will have to have the center hub also machined down to fit the 5-lug brake drums.

I would buy the aftermarket axles and be done,.. if I had your truck.
(get rid of those 40+ year old axles and install new ones with new bearings and seals)
Right now you have the gear ratio you want, and working brakes.
If you buy another rear axle,... you will have to look at everything and either re-do the brakes or swap your parts over and re-bleed them.

If all of your stuff needs to be rebuilt,... swapping to a 71-72 rearend would be the way to go. But it may need new axles, seals, bearings, etc.

I purchased a 71 rearend last year to do a quick 5-lug swap.
The axles and rear gears ended up being junk.

Just pointing out all your options,...

[gringoloco]

If you're not afraid of running the axles that way, you could use HD drums to make up the 3/4" difference. Just another option...

[raycow]

Even if you swap the deeper drums it is not a good idea to run the longer shafts in the early housing. The reason is that the machined area for the bearings isn't very long and the bearings could be contacting a part of the shaft that they were never intended to. It couldn't hurt to pull out a shaft and take a look. You will be able to see the wear mark from the bearing.

Ray

[65Guy]

Thanks fo the help guys, what would i ask for at the parts store to get a hd drum?

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by 65Guy

Thanks fo the help guys, what would i ask for at the parts store to get a hd drum?

C10 Suburban, 11 5/32 x 2.75" drum.

[darthwall]

Im kinda in the same bind here I have a 68 and am doing the 5 lug swap problem is I cant find a 71-72 housing I have axels for a 77 I could put in but have to run spacers for the wheels to fit so its that much more stress on the axels