How do you identify a 9" diff?

Howdy all

First post on this forum. I imported a '63 Econoline van from CA to Australia (I also have a '62 Corvair rampside) - which I am now renovating/restoring.

While superficially shiny, it suffers from being used more than it was properly maintained - but it's basically pretty good......just needs sorting.

It's got a 200 c.i. motor, but the diff looks pretty big.....and different from the motor manual.

Could it be a 9" unit - and how do I tell?

Thanks & regards,

Rhys

I can't help you there, but wait our econo guys will see this and help you out.

Welcome to the site!!!!

How about some pic's of that econo & the rampside

Hi,

I tried - but failed. Relented and read the instructions.

Try again.............





And it's kind of working.

Regards,
Rhys

Nice rides you have there!!!!
B.W.

It's easy to tell the difference in rear ends. A 9 inch has the center section"pumpkin" that drops out from the front side. Thats where all the nuts are also. The small rear doesnt do that and has an inspection plate on the back side of the center section. From the factory,the only 63 or 64 that would have had a 9 inch would be the heavy duty model which were somewhat rare. That particular driveshaft is highly sought after since it has the big yoke joint on the rear but the small one on the front.

Thanks for that (Tim?).
I don't suspect anything is original - certainly the 200 c.i. motor isn't.

I kind of know what you mean, no doubt when I'm looking at the thing it'll all makes sense. Got a photo of a 9"?

Regards,
Rhys

Great looking econo & rampside

A 9" needs a wrench to access the bottom nuts, an 8" can use a socket.
Lots of inof here
http://www.kevinstang.com/Ninecase.htm

Excellent feedack - thanks to all.

Does look like a 9" unit (from memory) - though I need to get on my back and inspect it.

Regards,

Rhys

Here's one in my 63 8 door.
Fred

Cheers for that....here's a (bad) photo of the one in the van.


Regards,
Rhys

That is a 9". Probably a 3:50 or 4:11 ratio. If you have 6 or 7 leaves on the springs, you have a heavy duty.
Like Tim posted, the rear u-joint is larger than the front.
The 200 is a direct replacement for the 170 that was probably in a Heavy Duty 63-64.
If you look where the round rear transmission mount attaches to the body, there will be one hole for a 63 and 2 holes for a 64..

Howdy all,

Well it apears that the diff is a 9''.......and their ARE more leafs in the springs than indicated in the manual. The ID plate shows that the model is a E144 - so I presume the van is a heavy duty model. (which I guess is a good thing)

Is it feasable to reseach order details or production numbers on Econolines'?

Thanks & regards,

Rhys

Bump.

I'im curious to know about producton numbers as well. searched to no avail.

For the Ford muscle car crowd, there is the Marti report.
http://www.martiauto.com/reports2.cfm

The page says 1967 and up. There may be other sources, perhaps even Ford.
I have no idea if they deal with trucks/vans. Maybe send them an email.
For Mopar, the records from 1967 to ~74 are all lost. That's why the numbers are so important on those, if you are into that game. For earlier stuff, Chrysler Historical may provide a copy of the IBM card, but it is a bit of money, a bit of time and hard/impossible to read in some cases.
Pontaic is a great resource for OE info, but that doesn't help us vanners.
I think that Chevy doesn't have good records, considering all the hoopla about data plates and such during the auctions.

Gotta say that even talking about all this in relation to these ol' vans sends shivers down my spine. I got into muscle cars because they were cool, then it got to be a numbers matching, OE NOS parts, investment game. That's why I've moved into other areas (old Mopars, vans), so I can just have cheap FUN without worrying about all the originality and correct parts stuff.

Rod said...

I got into muscle cars because they were cool, then it got to be a numbers matching, OE NOS parts, investment game.

I fully agree.Arm chair critics watchin too many shows & never under a hood,effect me the same way.And don't you dare hurt the 'patina'.Haaaa ! Yeah,right.

Yeah im not big on original resto, though cool in its own way, is un feasable for a guy like myself. I'm just into all that old information, then again, anything old is a ok with me!!