63 Differential Assm. - c omplete

[Richard D.]

Guys:

A friend of mine (fellow who redid the bodywork and paint on my 68) has a complete 63 rear assm. (diff -4.10, trailing arms with full brake assm.'s, cross member with rubber mounts, shocks, leaf spring) fully assembled, and in relatively new condition.

He wants to sell it complete, and was wondering what a fair price would be for it. The build date on the rear is 10-12-62.

Seems that the fellow he got it from pulled it from the 63 it came in when new, and put a solid axle in it for drag racing (way back in 63). Been in storage ever since.

I was thinking of getting it for my 68 as a back up as it has everything on it.

Will this bolt directly into a C-3 (with the exception of the drum brakes having to be changed?), and does $1000.00 sound like a fair price for the entire shooting match?

Thanks,

Rich

[Ed Jennings]

Re: 63 Differential Assm. - c omplete

Rich, the 63 has some differences from all other C2/3's regarding the spindles and perhaps the trailing arms?? I'm not sure what the differences are, but someone will chime in here. Anyway, the assembly would probably be of much greater value to someone with a 63. The price tag certainly sounds cheap enough.

[Richard D.]

Re: 63 Differential Assm. - c omplete

Thanks Ed.

Maybe you're right about not breaking up the assm., or tying to use it other than for a correct resto. somewhere.

I am curious though about the interchangabilty of the diff, cross member, mounting bracket, etc.

Regards,

Rich

[Craig S.]

Re: 63 Differential Assm. - c omplete

The internals of the posi are different, however the later parts can be exchanged on rebuild. The 63 had much stiffer springs, and servicing should include upgrade to the later parts. Also, the spindles were slip fit versus press fit, and GM changed the design due to some early failures, and for safetly, the later spindles are better. Since this vintage was still for drum brakes versus disc, I believe there are other differnces on the trailing arms with brackets and placements, etc. and the support design may be different but for sure the brackets that hold the disc calipers won't be there.

This would be best left alone for a real 63 car, but, there are not that many remaining that probably need the parts so the market may be small compared to using the parts for later year cars from 65 on....Craig

[Duke W.]

Re: 63 Differential Assm. - c omplete

Only the first few thousand '63s had slip fit spindles. After a couple of interim designs the press fit went into prodution about 12/1/62, and continued through the end of C3 production essentially unchanged.

In conjunction with the new press fit design, the 30K service interval was eliminated.

Duke

[Craig S.]

Re: 63 Differential Assm. - c omplete

Thx for the clarification Duke!....Craig