Rear end swap

[Jim-ME]

I need to relace the rear housing of my IIa. I found a III complete rear end. Can I just put the brake components, hub etc from my old rear end on the "new" rear end or will I have major compatability problems? Also I want to replace the u-bolts during the swap. Do I need special u-bolts for Parabolic springs or can I just order from RN.
Thanks,
Jim

[Leslie]

Why even change out the components, instead, just use the complete SIII axle? I can't think of any difference between the axles between a IIa and a III, per se... if you were switching from an 88" to a 109" rear, then the drum sizes, etc., will be different, or you might even find a Salisbury, but say, a '67 88" and a '73 88", should be the same....

RN will have suitable ones, but, you should be able to locally source ones that would work if you know where. Ubolts aren't magic. What kind of paras do you have?

[Jim-ME]

I have Rocky Mountain parabolics. Aren't the wheel studs different between a SIIa and a SIII? I thought that there is a difference in lug nut size. Thanks for the reply.
Jim

[Leslie]

How early or late is your IIa? However, you're right, earlier IIa's had the smaller size. The later larger size is preferable, though... a lot of folks will upgrade their IIa to the larger lugs. Those, I would source from RN. In this case, swap the rear, upgrade your front lugs, and you're off to go....

Would save you from changing hubs, etc....

[Jim-ME]

My IIa is such a mixture of years I really have no idea what the real age of the rear end is. I guess that the best thing to do is wait for the new rear to arrive and see if one of my existing lugnuts fits. Does that make sense?
Jim

[Leslie]

Yep. Not that I'd keep it that way, but for the time being you could get a set of SIII lugnuts: just bolt the wheels on the front with the old ones and the ones on the rear with the new ones, until such time you convert them to all be uniform.

[KingSlug]

You will probably need to check the brakes or replace bearings or a seal anyhow when you get the new rear axle. So when you do just swap out the hub, not a big job at all, plus you get to buy a hub socket which you will need any ways. Why again do you need a whole new axle housing? If the rear cover is bent, rusty and leaking why not weld on a bomb proof sewer cap ala Ike Goss; the first link is of an ENV axle but you can do the same to a rover axle, the second link is to Ike's website with all sorts of neat stuff.

I would hold off on changing the studs, unless they are bad. Get you rover rovering first then play catch up with the minor things for the next 20 years.