GM 10-bolt rear ends

Anybody have much experience with these? I'm still plugging away on that '66 Chevelle. The stock rear was a 3.08 10-bolt. I bought a 4.11 positrac 10 bolt rear, and the seller claims it came out of a late 70's Oldsmobile. What I'd love to find out is - are all 10-bolt car rear ends similar enough that I could transplant the 4.11 gears & posi unit from the one I bought into my car's original 10 bolt housing?

My thinking is - this way I wouldn't have to do any welding on the axle housings to get my trailing arm/shock/spring mounts where they need to be, and I'd have a stock width unit & not need to use offset wheels. Do a little work to avoid a little work I suppose.  Anyone know that this is or is not possible?  

Your Chevelle has the 8.2 inch 10 bolt which is different from the 8.5 inch that came along in 1970. They do not interchange internals.

As for the Olds rear fitting your Chevelle. I doubt it will. By the late 70's A bodies were completely different on the suspension. About 79 or 80, the 10 bolt shrunk to 7.5 inch and is not very strong unless that rear differential is out of the super rare Hurst Olds. That was only car from that era that still had the 8.5 inch.

To be sure of what will or will not fit; it's time to crawl under the car with your tape measure.  

I was thinking even with the Hurst/Olds I don't think any Car in the late 70's came with 4.11's.  Doesn't mean though in the last twentysomething years one hasn't been swapped in though.  Also I think the Chevy 10-bolts were different than the BOP ones.  Slightly different housings and carriers and axles.  

http://www.442.com/oldsfaq/ofdif.htm

This page has a bunch of rear-end information, it talks mostly about 12-bolts but it can give you an idea of how many different rear ends GM has and it doesn't even go into the housing which is important for spring mounts, etc.  
-
The Silver Buick- '77 Skylark coupe w/ a Fuel Injected Buick 455&TKO-600, '72 Centurion Conv't - 455w/TH400, '67 T-bird 4Dr (suicide) w/428&C6. Needing to replace a '69 Firebird 400.

http://www.bangshift.com/forum/index.php?topic=6189.0

First, the rear out of the late 70s Olds won't go in your Chevelle. Your '66 has a leaf spring rear, the 70s Olds rear has coil spring mounts.

Your best course of action is to take the 8.2 10-bolt and build it up to take what your motor's gonna put out (if possible. What's your motor/trans combo?)

Your other course of action is to get a 12-bolt out of a first gen Monte Carlo or Chevelle/Malibu (both already have the trailing arm mounts) and have leaf spring perches welded onto the housing so it'll install in your '66  

Your a little off here. 66 Chevelle is coil spring rear. Just checked it out on my neighbors 66. They were always coil springed rear.  

Agree with rebldryvr...64-72 A-bodies all had coil spring rear ends.  All were factory four link as well.  

BOP stuff was different up until the early 70's.  I think by that point they went pretty much with corporate stuff.  However, the late 70's stuff will not be a direct bolt in for a 60's application.  I know for a fact that the 73-77 A-body rear end is a direct bolt in for an early 80s B-body.

I also believe that the Grand Nationals had an 8.5" rear.  
68 Olds Cutlass ~ 350 Rocket
85 Delta 88 ~ 425 Rocket
02 Silverado 4X4 ~ 5.3L

Yeah, I'm certain it won't be a bolt-in, which was why I went fishing for knowledge.  There are kits that provide the trailing arm & coil mounts.  I just wasn't all that excited to be welding on the housings.

I'm going to do what I should have done before I bothered anyone with questions, and find the axle codes & see if I can learn what this actually came out of.  I did check, and the ratio is 4.11 and it does have a posi unit.  Maybe it's older than the owner thought, and maybe it came from something else too.  The differential housing is a slightly different shape than my stock unit though.  I'll see what I can find out.

Thanks all for the replies.