Hi Ted,

Once upon a time I ran across a '79 Doba that had a 8.25 Suregrip 2.45 ratio. We tried to put the suregrip into a '76 Roadrunner (Volare) that had something like 2.94 ratio. Turns out the carriers are different in the spacing from the bearing to the ring gear mounting surface.

Is the carrier too far forward due to incorrect bearing ID/OD? Or to far to the passenger side of the car and hitting the pinion? Our problem was the latter.

hope this helps in a small way,
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