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Index > @ the Pickup Bed (General Topics) > Thread: Rear-end width
Thread: Rear-end width
rotormunky


Redlining
Orlando, Florida
Posts: 424
posted September 23, 2003 12:04 AM

Rear-end width

If anyone is curious the flange-to-flange width of the rear-end is approximately 53".

It was a measurement I had been meaning to take for a while and thought someone else might like to know.

I'm toying with the idea of swapping out the rear end so I can get LSD and brakes. Think the Isuzu will work but now I'm wondering if its really necesary. Go figure, I obsess over something for months and then poof.

Anyway, I've got to go search my couch cushion for change. Saving up for a mig welder! w00t!



____________
-Martin
Orlando, Florida

http://www.themonkeyhouse.org/REPU

'77 REPU (Some assembly required :)
'91 Cabrio (Battered and bruised, but she's still my baby.)

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repuguru


Redlining
Posts: 319
posted September 23, 2003 06:34 AM

It may work.

The Trooper rearend is something I have wondered about before? What is its width?.
Also consider the e-brake, the proportioning valve and possibly the Isuzu master cylinder when doing this swap?
The Repu has actually great brakes for what it is. But there is always room for improvement.
Especially in the front of the truck.
____________
77' REPU plus a few spare parts
for it.
85' GSL-SE
83' GSL

       
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rotormunky


Redlining
Orlando, Florida
Posts: 424
posted September 23, 2003 02:52 PM
Edited By: 20wannab on 23 Sep 2003 14:53

quote:
The Trooper rearend is something I have wondered about before? What is its width?.


I think its the Rodeo/Amigo rear end we'd want for the rear discs, do the Troppers have them too? I'ver *HEARD* that its 58" measured to the outside face of the rotors which would translate to approximately 52-53" from flange to flange (which is how I measured the REPU rearend) so even if its not EXACTLY the same it should be close enough. Worse comes to worse we should be able to compensate with wheel offset.

quote:
Also consider the e-brake, the proportioning valve and possibly the Isuzu master cylinder when doing this swap?




Oh yeah, its much more involved than just the rear end for sure. Probably use the MC and proportioning valve from the isuzu and if necessary I'd use an adjustable proportioning valve. There's about a zillion options thanks to the custom street rod crowd.

quote:
The Repu has actually great brakes for what it is. But there is always room for improvement.
Especially in the front of the truck.


Yeah, I wanted to upgrade them at all four corners but the rear end is the easiest since its a single piece in the rear plus the hydraulics of course. The fronts are going to require a lot of trial and error and research. Bearing, spindles, control arms assemblies...how far we have to go depends on how big a pain it is. Ideally we could slap pre-93 b-series rotors onto the truck but I doubt it'll be that easy.

I wanted LSD and better brakes for times when I am hauling home 25 bags of mulch or something. Would be nice to push with both rear wheels especially in the wet, but I'm wondering if the brakes need upgrading badly enough to go through the trouble (esp the fronts) that its going to take. The rear end really isn't THAT big a deal if you can just find the right width in a six-lug pattern.



____________
-Martin
Orlando, Florida

http://www.themonkeyhouse.org/REPU

'77 REPU (Some assembly required :)
'91 Cabrio (Battered and bruised, but she's still my baby.)

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rotormunky


Redlining
Orlando, Florida
Posts: 424
posted July 12, 2005 08:20 PM

I know this isn't exactly the most helpful piece of information in the world, but as I had to swap in a junkyard rear end into my s-10 blazer this weekend I had the opportunity to measure the s-10 rear end.

The drum brake model is is ~55" from outside face of each drum. I expect that the disc brake version wouldn't be that far off from that. Which means they'll work on the REPU.

The bad news: five-lug
Dunno if the wide world of chevy offers cheap six-lug axles. God knows there's enough aftermarket crap out there.

Good news: Junkyard always has them, they come in disc brake configuration and LSD. There's NOTHING to them. Super simple. Took me a little over an hour to swap the rear end on the Blazer yesterday.

The best news: ~$150. I think the junkyard had a dozen or so different low mileage rearends when I called.

Anyway, just passing along the info.




____________
-Martin
Orlando, Florida

http://www.themonkeyhouse.org/REPU

'77 REPU (Some assembly required :)
'91 Cabrio (Battered and bruised, but she's still my baby.)

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Brad


Rotorhead
Posts: 1672
posted July 14, 2005 11:28 AM

Early chevy blazers use same 6 lug. We also need to look at r&p ratio and if the diff is centerally located left to right on the axel like our REPU is. Otherwise driveshaft will be cocked. Plus leaf spring axel perch needs to be in same spot to bolt up, and angle of the perch determines pinion angle.

Of course the leaf perches can be cut and rewelded..... Anyone ever measure a B2200? There is an aftermarked LSD available for B2200.................................... 7.2" ring gear....................

Drums are also heavy and not as effecient as discs, another reason to upgrade to rear discs. But remember that front brakes do 80% of the braking so upgrading fronts = quicker braking.
____________
-brad-
74 REPU Lawn Green
81 Rx-7 racecar. 12a J-
Bridge

       
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rotormunky


Redlining
Orlando, Florida
Posts: 424
posted July 14, 2005 02:32 PM

quote:
Early chevy blazers use same 6 lug. We also need to look at r&p ratio and if the diff is centerally located left to right on the axel like our REPU is. Otherwise driveshaft will be cocked. Plus leaf spring axel perch needs to be in same spot to bolt up, and angle of the perch determines pinion angle.

Of course the leaf perches can be cut and rewelded.....


Its def. centered. I figured you'd have to reweld the perches, I would just assume the leaves are not the same width.

quote:

Anyone ever measure a B2200? There is an aftermarked LSD available for B2200.................................... 7.2" ring gear....................



My coworker has a 2200 and he says his width is 53", which puts it in play as a possibility.


quote:

Drums are also heavy and not as effecient as discs, another reason to upgrade to rear discs. But remember that front brakes do 80% of the braking so upgrading fronts = quicker braking.


After redoing the drum brakes on that blazer I want nothing more to do w/ drum brakes! :) Seriously though, rear discs is something I do want. I think a serious brake upgrade effort for the fronts needs to be researched. If its possible to hang larger five-lug hubs up front then the late-model LDS, discbrake blazer rearend is ideal.

But if you can't get off the six-lug on the front then a six-lug rearend upgrade would be in order.


____________
-Martin
Orlando, Florida

http://www.themonkeyhouse.org/REPU

'77 REPU (Some assembly required :)
'91 Cabrio (Battered and bruised, but she's still my baby.)

        Click here to visit rotormunky's homepage. 
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Brad


Rotorhead
Posts: 1672
posted July 15, 2005 01:54 PM

Cool Martin.

I have done some preliminary research on 11" vented front rotors. Since the hub is separate from the rotor (unlike 1st gen Rx7) that will make costs more reasonable.

It can be done, big brake jobs have been done for a plethora of other cars and trucks over the years. Just need to drop a REPU off at the shop I talked too for a few months. They're real busy and race cars take precedence over street cars with them. Winter time is slower for them. Not sure I have time to do it but hopefully some day.
____________
-brad-
74 REPU Lawn Green
81 Rx-7 racecar. 12a J-
Bridge

       
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rotormunky


Redlining
Orlando, Florida
Posts: 424
posted July 15, 2005 02:07 PM

quote:
Cool Martin.

I have done some preliminary research on 11" vented front rotors. Since the hub is separate from the rotor (unlike 1st gen Rx7) that will make costs more reasonable.

It can be done, big brake jobs have been done for a plethora of other cars and trucks over the years. Just need to drop a REPU off at the shop I talked too for a few months. They're real busy and race cars take precedence over street cars with them. Winter time is slower for them. Not sure I have time to do it but hopefully some day.


That's sounds like good news. Have you found a rotor that will bolt on yet?

Reworking the caliper mounting is the "easy" part really. Its finding a large vented caliper that will mount to that hub without modification.

I suppose its also possible to take the hub to a machine shop and have them remove the old studs, fill it in and give it a five lug pattern.

Then you could just swap in a late model DB/LSD blazer five lug rear end, add a new proportioning valve and voila!

Well probably a lot of cursing before the voila but still :)

So have you sourced the rotors that actually fit over the hub yet or are you still experimenting?


____________
-Martin
Orlando, Florida

http://www.themonkeyhouse.org/REPU

'77 REPU (Some assembly required :)
'91 Cabrio (Battered and bruised, but she's still my baby.)

        Click here to visit rotormunky's homepage. 
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Brad


Rotorhead
Posts: 1672
posted July 15, 2005 04:12 PM

I've held in my hand the 11.75" rotors that the same shop uses on 1st gens, with 15"+ wheels only.

Rotor bolts to an adaptor aka aluminum hat, which in turn bolts to hub. Using aircraft quality bolts.

Voila!@!

Rotors and calipers are reasonably priced. It's the R&D + machinework for hats and caliper brackets that adds to it. No ETA, haven't gotten past theory phase.


____________
-brad-
74 REPU Lawn Green
81 Rx-7 racecar. 12a J-
Bridge

       
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rotormunky


Redlining
Orlando, Florida
Posts: 424
posted July 15, 2005 04:47 PM

quote:
I've held in my hand the 11.75" rotors that the same shop uses on 1st gens, with 15"+ wheels only.

Rotor bolts to an adaptor aka aluminum hat, which in turn bolts to hub. Using aircraft quality bolts.

Voila!@!



Holy Crap!

Voila indeed!

THat's excellent news. So the only thing left to do is getting them to make the aluminum hat right?


quote:

Rotors and calipers are reasonably priced. It's the R&D + machinework for hats and caliper brackets that adds to it. No ETA, haven't gotten past theory phase.



Well, the brackets I can probably swing with a welder, bandsaw, grinder and vise. The hats would have to be made.

I have never even seen the front end with the wheels off. (I promised myself that I would never move onto another part until I finish the part I'm working on which is bodywork. This way I maintain focus.)

Do you have any pics of the front end I could look at and think on? Thanks for taking up this challenge, I hope I'll be able to help out somehow.


____________
-Martin
Orlando, Florida

http://www.themonkeyhouse.org/REPU

'77 REPU (Some assembly required :)
'91 Cabrio (Battered and bruised, but she's still my baby.)

        Click here to visit rotormunky's homepage. 
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bwaits


Hauling
Posts: 119
posted July 16, 2005 07:41 AM

I will measure the rear end info a little later today. I have one that is out and I can get all the info off of it.

I plan on 2nd gen front and rear under my 74. I believe the stuff needed for the front end could come under the "hat" RnD and part price. I have done a number of hats for race teams. They are nice pieces but pricy to make.

-billy
____________
ACT . Accufab . AEM . APEXi . AutoMeter . B&B . B&M . BBK . BORLA . Bosai . Brembo. Center Force . Earl’s . Eibach . Energy Suspension . Fluidyne . Goodridge . Greddy . HKS . INJEN . Innovate Motorsports . INTRAX . K&N . KONI . KYB . Magnacore . MOMO . MSD . NGK . NOLOGY . NOS . NX . Pace Setter . Power Slot . Prothane . ReSpeed . Rotora . Sparco . Suspension Techniques . Tanabe . Tokico . TurboNetics . Unorthodox Racing

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bwaits


Hauling
Posts: 119
posted July 16, 2005 04:05 PM

2ng gen IRS: 59" wide - Wheel flange to Wheel flange
1st gen drum: 57" wide - Wheel flange to Wheel flange

I will measure a repu and GSL-SE on Sunday.

-billy

____________
ACT . Accufab . AEM . APEXi . AutoMeter . B&B . B&M . BBK . BORLA . Bosai . Brembo. Center Force . Earl’s . Eibach . Energy Suspension . Fluidyne . Goodridge . Greddy . HKS . INJEN . Innovate Motorsports . INTRAX . K&N . KONI . KYB . Magnacore . MOMO . MSD . NGK . NOLOGY . NOS . NX . Pace Setter . Power Slot . Prothane . ReSpeed . Rotora . Sparco . Suspension Techniques . Tanabe . Tokico . TurboNetics . Unorthodox Racing

ReSpeed Online Catalog

       
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bwaits


Hauling
Posts: 119
posted July 17, 2005 07:44 AM

74 Repu: 58 1/2" wide - Wheel flange to Wheel flange
GSL-SE: 58 1/2" wide - Wheel flange to Wheel flange

I am posting wheel flange widths because there are to many variables if all you know is housing width. With Wheel flange info the only variables are wheel width and backspacing.

-billy

____________
ACT . Accufab . AEM . APEXi . AutoMeter . B&B . B&M . BBK . BORLA . Bosai . Brembo. Center Force . Earl’s . Eibach . Energy Suspension . Fluidyne . Goodridge . Greddy . HKS . INJEN . Innovate Motorsports . INTRAX . K&N . KONI . KYB . Magnacore . MOMO . MSD . NGK . NOLOGY . NOS . NX . Pace Setter . Power Slot . Prothane . ReSpeed . Rotora . Sparco . Suspension Techniques . Tanabe . Tokico . TurboNetics . Unorthodox Racing

ReSpeed Online Catalog

       
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rotormunky


Redlining
Orlando, Florida
Posts: 424
posted July 17, 2005 09:10 AM

quote:
74 Repu: 58 1/2" wide - Wheel flange to Wheel flange
GSL-SE: 58 1/2" wide - Wheel flange to Wheel flange

I am posting wheel flange widths because there are to many variables if all you know is housing width. With Wheel flange info the only variables are wheel width and backspacing.

-billy



Hey Billy,

Great numbers, thanks very much!

When you say wheel flange do you mean mounting face (drum face) where the wheel actually mates up? Just want to be sure so I can be consistent with my own measurements.

Thanks,


____________
-Martin
Orlando, Florida

http://www.themonkeyhouse.org/REPU

'77 REPU (Some assembly required :)
'91 Cabrio (Battered and bruised, but she's still my baby.)

        Click here to visit rotormunky's homepage. 
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bwaits


Hauling
Posts: 119
posted July 17, 2005 09:52 AM

Yes Sir, where the wheel mounts to the drum or rotor.

I have a GSL-SE rear mocked up under mine right now. Same width as the stock. It is amazing how close this thing is to just bolting up. I know Mazda did not intend it that way and it will take a fir amount of fab work - but I am leaning towards this.

-billy
____________
ACT . Accufab . AEM . APEXi . AutoMeter . B&B . B&M . BBK . BORLA . Bosai . Brembo. Center Force . Earl’s . Eibach . Energy Suspension . Fluidyne . Goodridge . Greddy . HKS . INJEN . Innovate Motorsports . INTRAX . K&N . KONI . KYB . Magnacore . MOMO . MSD . NGK . NOLOGY . NOS . NX . Pace Setter . Power Slot . Prothane . ReSpeed . Rotora . Sparco . Suspension Techniques . Tanabe . Tokico . TurboNetics . Unorthodox Racing

ReSpeed Online Catalog

       
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klaus42


Rotorhead
Posts: 1877
posted July 17, 2005 10:05 AM

Might just be a question of...

...'truck duty' heavyweight utility, vs. the somewhat 'lighter duty' axles, etc. ... ?

       
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Brad


Rotorhead
Posts: 1672
posted July 17, 2005 10:35 AM

thanks for the numbers Billy, that's great info!

I'd be game for Turbo ][ front brakes. They're a real nice setup; rotors, calipers and pads are available new too.
____________
-brad-
74 REPU Lawn Green
81 Rx-7 racecar. 12a J-
Bridge

       
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bwaits


Hauling
Posts: 119
posted July 17, 2005 11:42 AM
Edited By: bwaits on 17 Jul 2005 11:43

Klaus42, I have thought of this. I feel the desired use of the vehicle is the key. My truck is going to be more of a "sport" truck. I have a full size truck I use to haul loads and my enclosed trailer.

Brad, I am looking into this. My plan is to make a tube lower control arm that uses the second gen lower ball joint. Then my upper will be fabbed with a bracket that mounts to the top of the spindle where the strut did mount. I have seen this same thing done on the front of the Panoz street car. www.panozauto.com


-billy
____________
ACT . Accufab . AEM . APEXi . AutoMeter . B&B . B&M . BBK . BORLA . Bosai . Brembo. Center Force . Earl’s . Eibach . Energy Suspension . Fluidyne . Goodridge . Greddy . HKS . INJEN . Innovate Motorsports . INTRAX . K&N . KONI . KYB . Magnacore . MOMO . MSD . NGK . NOLOGY . NOS . NX . Pace Setter . Power Slot . Prothane . ReSpeed . Rotora . Sparco . Suspension Techniques . Tanabe . Tokico . TurboNetics . Unorthodox Racing

ReSpeed Online Catalog

       
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klaus42


Rotorhead
Posts: 1877
posted July 17, 2005 06:57 PM

Right On!

I think rescuing a REPU otherwise well beyond stock restore, and building it to handle from square one, is way cool! Appearance, yes... but function always comes first... unless we're talking about pristine original... :)

       
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FLIBOYZ6


Revvin Up
great
Posts: 72
posted October 13, 2005 01:30 AM

IF YOU ARE STILL LOOKING 4 SOME ONE TO DO MACHINE I WILL DO IF I CAN GET HOOKED UP WITH SOME EMBLEMS FOR MY GRILL OR A WIRING HARNESS

       
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