1937 Buick Rear End Swap

I have the gears and tube of a '37 Buick Century rear differential that I would like to swap into my '37 Special. Anyone with experience doing this? Any tips?

You might want to post this in the Buick pre war section farther down.

I've never done the swap you are planning although I have been tempted at times. You might want to check out some of the old Torque Tube technical articles. They can be found here; http://www.1937and1938buicks.com/The-Torque-Tube/The-Torque-Tube.htm A quick glance at the Technical Index lists a number of articles. Look under rear end.

Carl

Bobby Rodd,

I have moved this post to the Pre-War Buick Forum. Hopefully you will find someone who can help you here. Personally I have very limited knowledge of this. I presume you know that the 37 Century came with 15 inch wheels while the 37 Special came with 16 inch wheels. With a quick glance at my parts manual it looks like they use different hubs. I have no idea if the wheel bolt pattern is the same or different.

Thank you for your responses. I certainly will not tackle the job until I get more familiar with the process. Your comments are a good start. I'm concerned because rivets are used in the original differential and don't know if I can safely use bolts when I put in the new gears. Then there's the tube length. I'll carefully read the Tube Tech articles. Thanks again for your responses.

BRodd

I have collected some threads on this topic in '39 Team post 5 item 12

The 1937 and 1938 Buicks Torque Tube has some good information. I have also indexed this topic

From memory it is an easy swap. Is the Torque tube information. Think you need to use the series 40 torque tube due the different transmission

You get wider brakes as a bonus if you swap the lot.

The old Torque Tubes are a wealth of '37 - '38 information. Your rear end swap is covered in them.

1939 buick is right. You have to use the 40 Series torque tube, the splines are smaller that the 60 series.

Thanks for all the replies. I have all the parts (gears, ring and pinion, et cetera) from the differential of a '37 Century, which need to be placed into my '37 Special. I would think that placing them is difficult. Would it be easier to do the swapout by having the entire drive train (axles and all minus the tranny) and put that in?

Bobby Rodd

There are a lot of things to consider. The differential carriers may be different and the third member housings may also be different. Example: I was going to put some new '36 Special gears into a '37 Special carrier and housing (the carriers are the same part #), but the third member housing was not compatible. The housing is deeper because the '37 pinion is larger than that of the '36. Also, if you use the complete '37 Century drive train, be aware that the torque tube length, axles and transmission spline may be different than the Special. That would require some modifications.

Les

Hey, Les...

Clearly, the 1937 - 1938 Torque Tube articles, while helpful, are not enough. I can only hope that someone who knows how to do the swap lives close enough to do the swap for me. Thanks for your insight/tips.