my friend has a 86 firebird - which he uses for parts - the rear has disc brakes and a posi - so he wanted to swap over to his 87 firebird one peg leg car

after straight swap - the left wheel wobbles seriously wrong at very little speed -

we thought axle must be bent but really do not know - there are no ugly or squeaking noises like bearings

he now wants to take it back off - and put on original one peg leg rear end

only thing is - he first thought he would swap axles and tried to remove small retainer bolt for the crossshaft in differential -

it broke leaving unthreaded part of retainer bolt for the shaft stuck in cross shaft -

so we cannot remove axles or c-clip as the shaft is stuck in place on original one peg leg rear

QUESTION 1: can we re-insert threaded portion of retainer bolt (it screws back in without any problems) for the crossshaft to retain pin portion in crossshaft as originally intended and put one peg leg rear back into operation?

QUESTION 2: where to start looking for problems with wobbling left wheel analysis on 9 bolt rear?? I hear this is a good rear end and we would hate to not be able to make use of it in future

Wheels are in good stead - so its not the wheels itself - thats the first question I asked

Thanks for any help

 

1. It was a bad idea in the first place. 9-bolt and 10-bolt axles are completely different. They don't interchange.

2. The wobbling is almost certainly a bent axle. It's real easy to do that; a surprisingly light curb job is all it takes.

3. Yes you can put the remains of the screw back in and it will probably be OK.

 

Really ?

So they do not interchange! they seem the same length

I am sure he will kick himself when he hears that!

Is it the spline count thats different or the carriers itself that makes the difference or both?


I checked the engagement of the rest of the retainer bolt thats left in the carrier and the shaft seems firmly in place even without threaded portion engaged

So I will tell him to put on some heavy Loctite and swap the peg leg back into service

Thanks

 

They are altogether totally different. WAY beyond little details like spline count. For example, the 9-bolt doesn't even use C-clips; it uses a pressed bearing and a botled retainer plate.

Yes they are about the same length, as they do have to fit into the same cars. So that's a similarity. And, they have the same sort of flange on the end, since the same wheels bolt to them. The similarities end right there. Everything else about them is COMPLETELY different.