28 and 30 rear end differences

[jimTN]

Is there any visible outward difference between a early 28 AR rear end and a 30 rear end and torque tube. I am considering swapping my 28 (4:11) for a 30 (3:78). Since the car is a very early original restored, do not want to distract from that.

[rocket1]

There was a post awhile back regarding the seam on the axle tubes,possibly someone could chime in with the info.

[Bruce_MO]

Jim,


The judging stds would indicate a lot of differences that would take a trained eye to know, and I'll defer to the early '28 experts to provide details. I know that radius rods, backing plates, etc. were different, as well as what Rocket1 mentioned. One thought... you'll have maybe a minimum of 4 hours to swap rear ends; why not just add a few hours and put a 3.78 R&P in your '28 axle? I would think that your confidence in the condition of the '30 rear end would dictate whether you'd just swap it in. It might need to be opened up and looked at unless you know its condition.


And by all means, please keep the early '28 rear end so that it's available to keep the car totally original. Early '28's are really neat.


Have fun...

[Tom Endy]

Changes were made to the housings over the years, however, they are interchangeable. The consideration is blue ribbon judging. The Judging Standards describe the changes.

Many of the rear axle assemblies I have worked on were hybrids with a mixture of housings from different years.

The early 28's have a completely different ring & pinion and drive shaft set up that is not interchangeable with the later configuration. They are also not compatible with a Mitchell overdrive installation. See the attached article.

You should be able to switch the complete rear axle assembly out without a problem.

Tom Endy

[jw hash]

the brake system is different. finding an AR good ring & pinion is not that easy. they are completely different. using your braking plates, drums and radius rods you can install a 30 rear end.

[Jim Brierley]

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I don't know about very early 28's, but when Ford changed to what all the later diffs have, the early ones of those had the drain and fill plugs in a vertical line, later the plugs were offset from each other. I have an early center section if someone needs it?