Another Newb question from Jay! YAY!

How do I go about getting the rear axle from one car to the other?
I have my 83 GSL which is, let's face it, not going anywhere till she gets painted.
I'm PURCHASING an 85 (or is it 84, can't remember) GS with a rear disc conversion.

The person selling to me decided to play around, and hit a curb, bending the axle a bit.
It IS still driveable, but it makes this annoying *** chirping noise, and, according the the guy, it eats pads rather quickly on the one side.

What steps must I go through to get the axle from my 83 onto my 85?

Thanks.

 

The 85 has a large axle and the 83 has a small they can not be interchanged.

You would have to change the entire rear end.

 

unless the 85 swap was with an 83 or earlier. who knows?
but all you need to do for the axle change is remove the wheel,brake and rotor. behind the rotor are 4 bolts that hold the backing, axle on. remove those and give it a REAL GOOD TUG! you might need a slide hammer, might not. then the whole axle comes out. you can compare them together and there should be a noticable difference if they are. good luck

 

Well, if it means taking the whole rear end out, oh well

What about rasing it? Where to I put the jackstands for something like this?

 

I would think if you are changing the rear end and the axle, you can just jack it up and have the rear of the car held up by the frame which would be safe. I assume the rear end with the brakes etc would be pretty hefty too, so be careful when putting it in.

 

The rear axle is pretty easy to swap out if you have a floor jack that can roll around. I did my axle swap in about 5 days, in between school and work.

As for the jack stands, I HIGHLY recommend putting something like a small block of wood in between the stand and the frame. In my experiences, the frame crushes VERY EASILY. Eventually, I figured out that I could use a block of wood to distribute the weight and have no damage.

I think you might need the proportioning valve and brake master cylinder as well. At least, I did for my 83 GSL LSD rear-end to my 82 GX.

 

Good stuff to know, even though someone else bought the car I was after --__--

 

I've pulled up this old thread upon searching, as I am doing a rear axle swap in my '81 GS to use an '83 GSL w/ disc brakes. I PM'd Moonchopper, but thought I'd also ask out here, too.

Parts I have include:
1. Entire '83 GSL rear axle with disc brakes (bought on Ebay).
2. SS Brake line kit (for rear disc models) from Mazdatrix.
3. New Rotors and calipers from Advance Auto. (old ones are traded as cores; too rusty!)
4. Bendix OE brake pads from Advance.
5. GSL emergency brake cable assy from a salvage supplier.

My questions are:

1. Will I need a new master brake cylinder, too? I've looked on Mazdatrix and learned that there are two different part numbers for both kinds: Drums vs. discs. Not sure what the difference would be. Volume perhaps?

2. Do I have to swap out the proportioning valve?

3. Are 'Speed-bleeders' the appropriate thing to do while performing this swap? Anyone recommend such?

4. Is the driveshaft going to be an issue from an '81 shaft-end to the '83 rear end?

Any advise is appreciated. I'm cleaning up the axle, now, for re-painting, so I haven't actually started the swap, yet. Thanks!
ChasRX