Hi, I'm sure its been posted before but can't find it. Can I take the rear 8.2 (64 Skylark) backing plates, brakes and drums and use them on an 8.5 rearend (71 Skylark) I was going to leave the 8.5 alone and use them but noticed the 8.2/64 Skylark has wider shoes on it (more stopping power?) . How is the 8.5 axle held in? Thanks Bruce
The '71-72 8.5 A-body rear uses bolt-in sealed bearing axles. Should use the exact same backing plate as your '64 Buick 8.2. If the Buick 8.2 came from a stationwagon, it should have wider shoes. Another exception is '71-72 8.5 A-body rears with factory A10 axle bearings used a different backing plate with larger diam center hole & they were also designed to accept wider bake shoes. For many years pulling 8.5 A-body housing & axle cores in crusher ards & self pull yards, I used to pull the axles, unbolt the hsg, & leave the backing plates hanging in the car... just made the housing & axle core lighter to haul out on my shoulder ou: Smart to go ahead get the 9.5 inch drum backing plates, esp if they're from the larger axle bearing rears... nice big bearing backing plates are getting harder to find. Got Posi? :3gears: Roger
Thanks for the reply. No Posi yet but it's on the list I can't understand the 71 Skylark 8 1/2" rearend having narrower brake shoes on it than the 8.2 rear end from the 64. The 71 was a convert and the 64 a 2dr ht. They are both the same diameter drum. The 71 is a heaver car. Thanks Bruce
Bruce, It would prob take me more than getting in the parts books to figure why you have wider shoes on the '64 A-body rear. A-body Station wagons usually had wider shoes but reqired an offset backing plate. In the past I've built up 8.5 A-body rears with the SW backing plates & the specific wider shoes. On more than one instance, I used the std width alum rear drums from '78+ A-G bodies on these wider shoes. Though the original drums were slightly wider, the "std width" drums still worked. Got Posi? :3gears: Roger
