The Official H-Body Internet Community

Question for everyone. I bought an entire S 10 rear end to use in my 75 Monza but don't want to have to get all the brackets cut off and moved. I also bought a junk axle housing for parts. What I am thinking is to take the S 10 axle housings from the differential to brake drums off and replace them with the axle housings from the junk housing. Is this doable? Trying to keep it as cheap as I can- any help will be greatly appreciated.

If I understand you correctly you wish to "Re-Tube" your S10 Centre Section [this is the "Housing"] with the Monza tubes, Correct? I don't understand this as both are 7.5" rears, [the only advantage to the S10 is that you can use off the shelf gears as the H-Body uses a "Bastard" pinion shaft size] if your S10 is a newer unit with the 28 spline axles then all you need to do is swap out the "Carrier" and set-up the gears you want, this is the time for a "Re-gear" that will cost you a "master install kit" and some time and possibly borrow a dial indicator [about $20US if you have to buy about the same for a "Magnetic Base"]. As for if this can be done yes but the proper tools for that will out weigh having it done professionally. Re-tubing should be done with an alignment shaft and a proper welding technique as well as a fixture if you want it really straight and square. Are there work arounds? ABSOLUTLY, are they worth our time and then the possible cost if our inexperience goes bad. I am a toolmaker and I will probably job mine out when the time comes. I hope this helps you out in this area. I think you should contact Jim [Monzaz] he is our resident H-Body rear guy, and may have something right up your alley so to speak. Harry

I bought what I thought was a complete rear end from a Vega or Monza. What I ended up with is the two axle housing tubes and half a differential housing. Prior to all of this I had bought a complete S 10 rear end but the guy who is actually doing all the work for me wasn't to happy about cutting off and relocating the brackets on the Monza to the S 10 rear end which brought on the purchase of the junk rear end. What I was thinking was taking the two junk axle housing tubes and using them to replace the axle housing tubes on the S 10 rear end. Everything else would stay the same- no cutting off and relocating the brackets on the Monza.

Is the H-body housing you bought a 7.5" ?
The S10 carrier and gears can be put into a 7.5 Monza housing, with some years the pinion shaft must be machined smaller to use the Monza bearing. Or there was a thinwall conversion bearing no machining is required but either way the ring and pinion setup is needed.

The simple solution is to just swap early S10 26 spline axles into an original 7.5" Monza rear end, using 76-80 Monza backing plates and S10 drums.
S10 housings did not have the Torque arm mounting provisions so there is no reason to use the S10 housing on a 75 and later car.
Camaro's and Firebirds used torque arm 7.5" rearends if you really want to retube somthing that would be closer, but the H-body torque arm will requie modification to bolt onto the F-body center section.

Retubing the center housing should be done with a jig and the tube ends checked afterwards with an alignment bar.
with C-clip axles the depth into the center housing is critical
the factory pinion angle must be maintained while indexing both tubes the same.

It would not be worth the trouble or expense to try and weld the H-body axle tubes onto the S-10 center. Simplest solution is put just the S-10 axles into the Monza rear(if it is indeed a 7.5") and maybe even round up the conversion bearing to use the S-10 pinion or have it machined if you wish to use the S-10 gears.
Slicing and dicing on rear end housings only worth the trouble if you're trying to get something beefy under there like a 12-bolt or Ford 9" or even 88" rear.

Got to agree with all y'all. Back to square one- Thanks!!!

Smiley wrote:Is the H-body housing you bought a 7.5" ?
The S10 carrier and gears can be put into a 7.5 Monza housing, with some years the pinion shaft must be machined smaller to use the Monza bearing. Or there was a thinwall conversion bearing no machining is required but either way the ring and pinion setup is needed.

The simple solution is to just swap early S10 26 spline axles into an original 7.5" Monza rear end, using 76-80 Monza backing plates and S10 drums.
S10 housings did not have the Torque arm mounting provisions so there is no reason to use the S10 housing on a 75 and later car.
Camaro's and Firebirds used torque arm 7.5" rearends if you really want to retube somthing that would be closer, but the H-body torque arm will requie modification to bolt onto the F-body center section.

Retubing the center housing should be done with a jig and the tube ends checked afterwards with an alignment bar.
with C-clip axles the depth into the center housing is critical
the factory pinion angle must be maintained while indexing both tubes the same.

So what I understand, that the only think to use from a s10 rear axle is the drum brakes and the axle shafts?
Do we keep the whole internals of the vega rear axle?
Since it is hard here to find second hand parts I might just order 2 new moser axles and drum brakes.