Denny,
The bearings were still ball type in '53, just a little bigger I believe. The spindles are a different part number. I would guess because of the thinner thrust bushing as well as the larger wheel bearing ID's. Now that I think of it, the spacing for the thrust bushing may have been made up on the axle side rather than the spindle. I have a '54 complete axle around somewhere, I'll check it out.
Hubs are the same part number for '47 to'55 at least.
I put '53 Bendix brakes on my '52 3600 axle. The only modifications were drilling the top spindle bolt holes out to 1/2" dia. and some minor filing on the backing plate center hole to clear the top of the spindle.
If I remember right, the Huck backing plate holes are offset or not on the same plane from top to bottom and there is a special bolt for the bottom with a spacer in the middle of it?
The Bendix Backing plate is flat and bolts directly to the spindle.
