Don't see what you're looking for? Contact us! All centers are made to order to your specifications.
Don't see what you're looking for? Contact us! All centers are made to order to your specifications.
REDBIRD
SPEED
Tech Info
If you need help with measuring housing ends, measuring a housing or a set of axles you are in the right place. We can help with questions like what kind of gear oil should I use? What kind of rear end should I buy? How much can I narrow this rear end? Don't see what you're looking for give us a call.
Measuring W2W
We use the term wheel to wheel as the surface where the rim meets the hat or drum of your brake kit to the opposite mounting surface. One example, a 1969 Camaro has a housing that is 54 1/4" wide. You account for 2 3/4" brake offset per side with factory axles. This brings you to 59 3/4" from axle face to axle face with axles installed. Once you install the factory drums that are 1/8" thick per side you end up at 60" from wheel mounting surface to wheel mounting surface. If you want to run a deeper dish rim or larger tires and you would like to narrow your rear we can make it custom. No extra charge. Everything is made to order and custom to fit your application. If you want to narrow your rear end, the best way to do this in our experience is to mock up the rims and tires that you want to use in the wheel well where you want them to end up. Give us the wheel mounting surface to wheel mounting surface dimension and we will work backwards from that measurement. If you have questions, contact us to see how narrow you can go.
Housing Ends
Housing ends are easy enough to measure. You go from center of hole to center of hole up and down and left to right. Also, measure the diameter of the outside diameter of the bearing pocket to confirm. To get accurate dimensions, the brakes will need to come off the housing. CAUTION: Do not go by shape of the housing end in the image. These often differ from the factory end. If you have questions on housing ends, call us. This may not be relevant to measure if you are getting aftermarket disc brakes or reusing the factory drums on your Chevelle. We will already have the information needed. If in doubt, reach out!
Measuring Bolt Patterns
When measuring the bolt pattern of your rims there are a few things to keep in mind. First, on a 4 or 6 lug pattern you measure across from center of stud to center of stud. A Chevy truck with a 6 lug pattern will measure 5 1/2" from center of stud 1 to center of stud 4.
When measuring a 5 lug bolt pattern, you measure from center of stud 1 to center of stud 3 and add 1/4". For example, a 1990 Camaro with a factory 5 x 4 3/4 bolt pattern will measure 5 x 4 1/2" from center of stud 1 to 3, add 1/4" and you will get 5 x 4 3/4".
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If in doubt, your local parts store should have a template to measure the pattern on your rims or axles. If using after market rims, contact the manufacturer to see what bolt pattern you ordered.
It's best to measure twice and drill once. If you would like a dual bolt pattern drilled in the axle face we can do this also. This is convenient if you find a set of Ford wheels that might not be factory pattern for your Chevy car. You can already have the 5 x 4 1/2 bolt pattern drilled in the face of the axles.
Baer Tracker Kit
Baer Brakes offers a full floater snout that takes a Big Ford New Style Torino bolt spread. If you want the comforts of a parking brake and high performance braking capability, you are looking in the right spot. This kit is designed for the road race style rear end or the autocross racer. A factory C-clip axle floats and often causes the pistons to compress causing you to double pump the brakes to get pedal. This issue is often called kick-back or knock-back
We have all the specs needed to utilize this kit on an aftermarket rear end for your build. Contact us if you would like to talk about your options for using the Baer Brakes Tracker Kit on your rear.
Measuring a Housing
This method allows us to calculate your axle measurements when you have a housing but not axles. This applies to the Chevy 10 Bolt, 12 bolt, Dana 60, 8 3/4 Mopar, 8.8, and 9 " Ford rears. The 9" and 8 3/4 do require you to mock the the housing up with the center section to take these measurements. What we are measuring here are the E, F, and G on the spec sheet. This goes from the center of the pinion nut to the outside of the housing end on the driver side and passenger side. CAUTION! Make sure you are measuring from the center of the nut that holds your pinion yoke on the pinion. This is not to be confused with the "center pin" in a posi. These two measurements are not the same. This method does require a pinion or center section in place to be used for measuring purposes. If you have any questions, be sure to reach out. Measure twice, cut once!
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