1962 Dodge Dart 440 Project

[Robert Barber]

I saw a post on FCBO about this car a while back and read through the post and I turned out to be the “local yokel” that purchased it. I will say that I absolutely will not put a Chevy engine in it ha! The car is in very good shape and is very complete. I don’t remember his name but I bought from a guy that lives near Milton, FL and I’ve had it for about 2 years now safely stored away in my shop. I have not really done anything with it up until recently. The car was very difficult to roll and it turned out to be swollen, gummy brake shoes. In the process of upgrading the brakes, I decided to throw a Sure-Grip in it and some new axles with Green Bearings. I plan on putting discs on the front brakes, and I’m working on building a 408 Stroker to put in it. Somewhere along the way someone swapped out the steel wheels for some Cragars which tbh I am not a huge fan of. I would like to put steel wheels and hub caps back on it. Also, the wiring under the hood is pretty crispy so I’ll repair some of that also. Other than that, I plan on leaving it exactly how it is. It’s a great car, I will try to make an effort to post updates and pictures as I go through it and get it back on the road.

 

[w.Hudson]

That is a nice looking Dart

 

[khryslerkid]

That will make a great driver!

Lots of information in my build thread. PM me for any questions also. Always good to see another '62 on here.
Taking Up New Residence

 

[T Brashears]

Nice to see another 4 door being saved!

 

[icetech]

That thing is beautiful.. welcome to the 62 world

 

[Robert Barber]

Thank ya'll for your support. I have posted about other projects on here before, but this one I am most excited about. Before I get too far with rear axle assembly, I wanted to post a couple pictures of my wear pattern and see what ya'll thought. This was my first time to ever disassemble and reassembled an 8 3/4" rear end. I did my best, I read a lot about how to do this and this was the end result. I sent some pictures to Doctor Diff to see what an expert had to say/recommend. I was told that at if I had .008" backlash (I was only able to achieve .006), then my pinion depth was .003" too thick. I 1000% believe that; however, I have read in other parts of this forum where people simply go off of, "Does it make noise or is it loud while driving down the road? If not let it roll!" I have disassembled and reassembled this differential about 5 or 6 times now to set pinion depth and preload, I am wondering if it is worth making another adjustment before I throw axles and brakes on it for what amounts to the thickness of a human hair (Once again, I am not questioning Doctor Diff at all, I am hesitant only because I am tired of taking it apart and putting it back together and I am really hoping that this will be sufficient for daily driving). Let me know what ya'll think. The rear end has a Yukon Gear Sure-Grip and I installed 3.55 gears from Doctor Diff.

 

[Diodedog]

Thank ya'll for your support. I have posted about other projects on here before, but this one I am most excited about. Before I get too far with rear axle assembly, I wanted to post a couple pictures of my wear pattern and see what ya'll thought. This was my first time to ever disassemble and reassembled an 8 3/4" rear end. I did my best, I read a lot about how to do this and this was the end result. I sent some pictures to Doctor Diff to see what an expert had to say/recommend. I was told that at if I had .008" backlash (I was only able to achieve .006), then my pinion depth was .003" too thick. I 1000% believe that; however, I have read in other parts of this forum where people simply go off of, "Does it make noise or is it loud while driving down the road? If not let it roll!" I have disassembled and reassembled this differential about 5 or 6 times now to set pinion depth and preload, I am wondering if it is worth making another adjustment before I throw axles and brakes on it for what amounts to the thickness of a human hair (Once again, I am not questioning Doctor Diff at all, I am hesitant only because I am tired of taking it apart and putting it back together and I am really hoping that this will be sufficient for daily driving). Let me know what ya'll think. The rear end has a Yukon Gear Sure-Grip and I installed 3.55 gears from Doctor Diff.

View attachment 1908370

View attachment 1908371

That looks like a decent pattern, the backlash is controlled with a spanner wrench on the carrier bearing adjusters. You start with about zero backlash and then add preload to push the ring gear away from the pinion which gives you backlash and bearing preload and then fine tune. If you don't have enough pinion and carrier bearing preload, your gears are not going to have a good life.

 

[Robert Barber]

That looks like a decent pattern, the backlash is controlled with a spanner wrench on the carrier bearing adjusters. You start with about zero backlash and then add preload to push the ring gear away from the pinion which gives you backlash and bearing preload and then fine tune. If you don't have enough pinion and carrier bearing preload, your gears are not going to have a good life.

I started on the ring side pushing the carrier toward the pinion until I got to .000” backlash. Then I started rolling the opposite adjuster in and it was pretty difficult just to get to .006” backlash and I was never able to achieve .007 or .008”. The manual I have said .006” is the minimum so I am going to try it. If it’s loud, I’ll disassemble and try again. If it explodes well, I guess I just start over…

 

[icetech]

If it explodes well, I guess I just start over…

This is the way

 

[Robert Barber]

I did some more work on the rear end, not a lot but some forward progress. By swapping out the open differential to the Sure Grip, this set in motion a few changes that have to be made to get everything back compatible.

I started with the OE axle which came with tapered axle shafts. I wanted to swap out the open differential for the Sure-Grip but the Sure-Grip does not have the thrust block that the axles butt up to in the open differential. The open diff and the Sure-Grip I purchased are splined the same but the OE axle shafts are too long. I contacted Doctor Diff to see what I needed to do about it and I was recommended to purchase a set of 53.25” custom axles which came with gaskets, flange plates, and Green bearings already pressed on. You will also need to purchase a set of longer axle flange studs. The original short studs are not long enough to accommodate the new gasket, flange plate, and then the nuts. It is easy enough to get the short studs out, just drift them out. I took this opportunity to degrease the axle flanges and tubes.

Also, the OE rear drum brakes are not compatible with the new axles. I am not 100% sure why, it may have to do with how far the new axle hubs stick out after you install them. You have to either upgrade to disc brakes or acquire a ’65 or new set of MoPar rear drum brakes. I got on eBay and ordered a set from a ’68 Plymouth, they are 11x3 heavy duty brakes. The ’65 and newer backing plates have a deeper bolt circle where they mate up to the axle flange which provides more clearance for the drums. I have not installed them yet but I have cleaned them up, treated them with Skyco Ospho, and painted them with Eastwood Rust Encapsulator. This stuff is super tough and you can paint it directly onto rust. I removed all the grease and loose rust before the paint went on. Next pay day, I buy all the brake guts to get those put back together.

 

[Robert Barber]

On the brake backing plates, the first thing I did with soak them in a Rubbermaid tub filled about 3 inches deep with Purple Power degreaser overnight. The next day I screwed them to a piece of plywood and pressure washed the ever livin' out of them. Once degreased, pressure washed, and blown dry, I sprayed them down with a light coat of Skyco Ospho, it is a rust converter my grandpa used to use all them time. He liked it so much he bought about 4 gallons of it! I let all that dry and work its magic overnight then came back the next day and put a coat of Rust Encapsulator then let that dry overnight. Then came back the next day, flipped them over and did the interior of the backing plates with Rust Encapsulator.

 

[khryslerkid]

I did the Dr Diff axle conversion on my '62.

This page and the one before it.
Post in thread 'Taking Up New Residence' Taking Up New Residence

The reason they don't use the tapered axle backing plates is the hole in the center is too small. Trying to enlarge it would be quite the feat.
Whatever backing plate that is used the drums have to match, diameter and width.

 

[Robert Barber]

When installing the flange studs, I put a red LocTite on the splines of each stud. Then used a nut and a stack of washers and a preumatic impact to pull the studs into place. I believe it is a 3/8"-24 nut. Take your time because if you just zshoop them all in real quick, you will pull the threads off your nuts! (I don't know if you've ever had that happen before but its not a good feeling). I recommend getting 2 or 3 sacrificial nuts. Another point is if you aren't careful you could damage the threads on your studs which will be a real drag on your progress...

 

[Robert Barber]

I did the Dr Diff axle conversion on my '62.

This page and the one before it.
Post in thread 'Taking Up New Residence' Taking Up New Residence

The reason they don't use the tapered axle backing plates is the hole in the center is too small. Trying to enlarge it would be quite the feat.
Whatever backing plate that is used the drums have to match, diameter and width.

Yes you're thread has been very helpful. I have been reading through it from time to time. I've started this thread mainly for my own accountability. I am hoping that if I have a forum to post in and I have liked mind folks that may be interested in following along, I can have some help and people like yourself will keep me from screwing up too bad ha! Also, I hope it will help me stay focused on getting this car running. And also, I want to learn everything that I can from the folks that know.

I was wondering why I had to change the rear brakes... I did not bother to compare the backing plates, it was just in the e-mail I got from Doctor Diff when I was getting ready to order the custom axles. Now I know!