I may install in my '62 Lancer a 2.93 7 1/4" rear
from a 60k-mile '65 273 Valiant that got hit and totalled. One of the axle seals on the '62 3.23 7 1/4" is weeping again...and the axle bearings and seals are special to '60-'62! I do
have the parts (seals AND bearings) to fix it...I also have a little voice in my head saying '65
rear axle isn't direct bolt-in for '62 car due to different...bolt hole locations?? Been away from the details too damn long...can someone toss me a line?


redbear@vrx.net

Nothing to worry about here. The '65 rear will drop right in. You are correct about the bearings and seals being different in the early A-bodies rear-ends. You haven't forgotten that much!

stever@luwadistributing.com

Watch the backing plates, here is why.
The 7 1/4 came with 3 different axle bearing sizes. It started in the 60 Valiant with a real small axle bearing and these were used into early 63.
Chrysler saw the problem and increased the 7 1/4 axle bearing size for 1963 and that size went forward untill the "big lug" 7 1/4 cut-in. (1973 for V8, and as late as 76 on drum brake SL6 cars)

The big lug (5 on 4 1/2) 7 1/4 has the largest axle bearing. All this is important because the axle bearing stud pattern changed each time the bearing was enlarged so that means that you need to use the correct brake backing plate and axle bearing retaining plate for the set-up you have.

One interesting fact is that the big lug stud pattern changed from a 4 stud to a 5 stud pattern which is the same as the stud pattern on the 8 3/4 axle. People with the big lug 7 1/4 can swap to a 8 3/4 and reused their 7 1/4 brake assemblies.

So the bottomline is that you can do this swap but you need to use the correct backing plates for the 65 rear.
DD