1964 Dodge Polara 500 Rear End

[wilmacmike]

I have a few questions regarding the rear end in my 64 Polara.

But first a little history on the car, because that is all I have. I purchased this car from my uncle back around August of this year. He gave the car to his son, my cousin more than twenty years ago. My cousin was killed in an auto accident this last February.

With my uncle being 88 years old he has forgotten a lot of what Jeff was doing to the car.

I do know that he pulled the 318 out as well as the small block 727 and swapped a 383 4 barrel and a big block 727. The old 318 and tranny are still in my uncles back yard. By finding a couple reciepts dated in the mid nineties, it looks like this may have been the time he did the swap.

I am in the process of going through the brakes, starting in the rear.

Now the questions:

The rear end is from a 1965. It has the flanged axles without the taper. It also has the adjustment ring on the one side.

I thought I read somewhere that the later 64's could have the early 65 in them. Has anyone heard of this before. I did a search but could not find anything that states this possibility.

My cousin may have swapped out the rear end. The old one is not sitting in the backyard with the engine and tranny.

I'm not worried about the 65 rear end, I just had to return the rear wheel cylinders I purchased because it was supposed to have the 64 rear end in it. So now I have the correct wheel clyinders for the 65.

One axle is leaking grease at the retainer seal. This leads me to the next question:
I will have to split the spacer to remove the bearing to get to the seal for replacement.
How good are the "Green Sealed Bearings"? Are they worth the extra cost?
Will they last quite a while?

Thanks for any help.

God Bless America

 

[Ski 61701]

In reading your post if you have 80w90 on the axle shaft btwn the flange and the wheel bearing your inner axle seal has let go and what happens is the 80w90 washes the grease out of the axle bearing itself. What this means is you have to pull the axle (i pull both of them) and replace the inner seal. Look at the axle itself to make sure the seal didnt wear a groove in the axle shaft itself. If there is a groove in the axle you might want to either 1 not seat the inner seal in the housing all the way to the inner shoulder just stop shy of the shoulder so the seal has a new smooth surface to ride on. You need to clean the bearing on the axle to make sure they arent smoked due to axle grease contamination now here is the kicker there is another axle seal that goes into the retaining plate. So to change that you need to cut off the bearing collar press ofc the bearing to get at the outer seal. 9 times out of 10 youre gonna ruin the bearing. So on to green bearings. You are going to get difference of opinions with them mind you chevy and ford both used a green style bearing and like anything stuff fails. If you do decide to use the green bearings there is a thrust block in the differential itself. This NEEDS to be removed otherwise youll smoke the green bearings. A great guy to deal with on bearing is Cass if you google Dr. Diff he has a website that sells bearing brake parts etc. He is a wealth of knowledge and his prices are reasonable

 

[wilmacmike]

In reading your post if you have 80w90 on the axle shaft btwn the flange and the wheel bearing your inner axle seal has let go and what happens is the 80w90 washes the grease out of the axle bearing itself. What this means is you have to pull the axle (i pull both of them) and replace the inner seal. Look at the axle itself to make sure the seal didnt wear a groove in the axle shaft itself. If there is a groove in the axle you might want to either 1 not seat the inner seal in the housing all the way to the inner shoulder just stop shy of the shoulder so the seal has a new smooth surface to ride on. You need to clean the bearing on the axle to make sure they arent smoked due to axle grease contamination now here is the kicker there is another axle seal that goes into the retaining plate. So to change that you need to cut off the bearing collar press ofc the bearing to get at the outer seal. 9 times out of 10 youre gonna ruin the bearing. So on to green bearings. You are going to get difference of opinions with them mind you chevy and ford both used a green style bearing and like anything stuff fails. If you do decide to use the green bearings there is a thrust block in the differential itself. This NEEDS to be removed otherwise youll smoke the green bearings. A great guy to deal with on bearing is Cass if you google Dr. Diff he has a website that sells bearing brake parts etc. He is a wealth of knowledge and his prices are reasonable

Ski, thank you very much.

 

[Ski 61701]

No problem good luck

 

[dvw]

Like stated. replace the inner seal, pack the bearing. In 35 years of doing this I've only had 1 bad axle bearing on an 8 3/4. I've never replaced the outer seal except when replacing the bearing.
Doug

 

[wilmacmike]

Like stated. replace the inner seal, pack the bearing. In 35 years of doing this I've only had 1 bad axle bearing on an 8 3/4. I've never replaced the outer seal except when replacing the bearing.
Doug

Thank you Doug,

I pulled out the drivers side axle along with the inner seal. The surface looks very good. This side was not leaking, but the passenger side is.

It is just my luck that my storage rack along the garage wall is too close to the axle. I will have to move it to gain access to pull the axle out. Lol. Oh well.

So when I get it out I will be able to tell if the surface that the seal rides on is as good as the drivers side.

Again, thank you very much for your help.

Mike
God Bless America !

 

[Ski 61701]

I almost forgot its not hard to do but you will need to reset the bearing preload on the axle. On the passengerside the axle retainer is threaded and there will be a pawl which prevents the retainer from spinning. Since this is the side that is leaking and hopefully the bearing is good just repack the bearing and slide it back in the fsm will have specs on the proper amount of endplay for the bearing(s) the adjuster will set the clearance for both wheels.

 

[wilmacmike]

I almost forgot its not hard to do but you will need to reset the bearing preload on the axle. On the passengerside the axle retainer is threaded and there will be a pawl which prevents the retainer from spinning. Since this is the side that is leaking and hopefully the bearing is good just repack the bearing and slide it back in the fsm will have specs on the proper amount of endplay for the bearing(s) the adjuster will set the clearance for both wheels.

I will give it a shot.

Do you know if any of the 64's came with the 65 rear end, or is it most likely my cousin installed this rear end?

Thank you for your help.
God Bless America!

 

[wilmacmike]

I almost forgot its not hard to do but you will need to reset the bearing preload on the axle. On the passengerside the axle retainer is threaded and there will be a pawl which prevents the retainer from spinning. Since this is the side that is leaking and hopefully the bearing is good just repack the bearing and slide it back in the fsm will have specs on the proper amount of endplay for the bearing(s) the adjuster will set the clearance for both wheels.[/QUOTE

I will give it a shot.

Do you know if any of the 64's came with the 65 rear end, or is it most likely my cousin installed this rear end?

Thank you for your help.
God Bless America!

 

[Ski 61701]

Not sure if any 65 rear ends made it into 64s. My 64 polara made in march of 64 had the tapered axle setup. Needless to say I ditched it for a 65 rear. Mainly for ease of servicing brakes. I did upgrade the axles when I swapped over and I put the green bearings in. So far so good its been 5 yrs and no problems with them. But then again I dont autocross the car either.

 

[Ski 61701]

So my guess is your cousin put the 65 rearend in the car.

 

[wilmacmike]

Ski,

I'm thinking he put it in also. I have had 4 other 64 Polara 500's through out the years since high school. None of them had the 65 rear end in them.

I do like the idea of easier hub removal.

Thank you for your input

God Bless America!

 

[Ski 61701]

Hopefully i can help out. Good Lord knows Ive been fortunate enough to have others help me. Just trying to pay it forward.

 

[wilmacmike]

Well you are doing a great job! I appreciate your help .

Thanks, Mike

God Bless America