6 lug to 5 lug?

[us74k5]

My buddy blew the rear axle out of his 78 el camino. I have an extra 12 bolt laying around that was in my 74 blazer. Can he just swap stuff from the 10 bolt to the 12 bolt and make it a 5 lug, then toss it in his camino?

 

[throttleissues]

I thought the El Caminos had a narrower axle than a K5. You might wanna measure to be sure. If they were the same width and both 12 bolts, I think it should swap, but I don't think they are. Oh, and his has a 4-link rear from the factory right? That'd mean swapping all the brackets too.

 

[us74k5]

Bah, I do not really know anything about el caminos. He does not know much either:-/

 

[KansasTwister]

Id say no. 12 bolts and 10 bolts generally dont swap internals, excluding the 68-72 Canadian built cars that had a 12 bolt with 10 bolt internals (rare stuff, youd never know one till you pop the cover, and never find parts for it either).

78 IIRC should be the same as the G body cars from 78-88, and all are the little 7.5 10 bolts, weak as hell, but some people use 12 bolts from the 68-72 A body cars, so id go look around a G body forum and see. Good luck.

 

[dyeager535]

I'd agree, should be a 7.5" 10 bolt (you'd need to check), so no, it won't work unless something else has been swapped in there.

My website has pictures of how to tell the 7.5 from 8.5" diffs. Same deal cars or trucks.

 

[pauly383]

I don't know how you are going to swap a leaf spring axle into a 4 link car when the axle is supposed to have two big ears with huge holes for the trailing arms on the top of the center section .

And to top that off , 78-88 had different geometry so you can't use 77 and older axles .

 

[dyeager535]

I think he was talking about the axelshaft/guts, not the entire case.

At one point I thought someone was making "adapter" trailing arms that worked with the earlier coil sprung axle assemblies, but I got my hands on a couple of G-body 8.5" axle assemblies, so I never pursued it further.

 

[pauly383]

I read it right , put 10 bolt stuff in 12 bolt to make it five lug THEN slap it into Elky . I know several people make bolt in housings for trailing arms , either cast or welded , but thats pricey .

I'd look for a station wagon with a V8 73-77 , those towed and had 8.5's , and modify some trailing arms ( easier than modifying a cast ear ) .

 

[dyeager535]

Your right, misread the 10->12 stuff.

Won't work, as you said.

 

[chulisohombre]

my buddy bought my old 12 bolt posi and changed the axles out to put it in his 78 camaro.just had to get 2 inch more backspaced wheels for it to fit back under the wheelwells iirc.the 5 lug axle on half ton truck 12 bolt was the same length as the 6 lug.just different pattern.he also had to remove all the brackets and switch them over.i havent seen him in a few years as he movewd away,but it is how he said it worked.

 

[pauly383]

Camaros had leaf springs though , moving perches from a steel tube to another tube is easier than cutting the cast ears off and welding them to a cast center section .

 

[chulisohombre]

i wasnt sure but same year at least.guess my post wasnt relevant then.i never really liked el caminos personally so i didnt ever invest time into finding out what the were equipped with.haha.