I was looking at the possibility of swapping spindles from a later truck (5/10 P-30) to the stock front end and it looks doable but I will need to see all the parts in hand. After I said something about the wheels not fitting I then saw the info about boring out the centers of the stock wheels, my bad. My "problem" with narrowing the axle is not the "doing of it" but the final product. I have my concerns about welding a large truck axle back together, not from the welding standpoint but the fact that the joint, no matter how well done and x-rayed and magnafluxed will never be as strong as the original forged axle was. Should it be a concern, I don't know, but it does bother me. If it was acceptable in industry then manufactures would narrow their own axles instead of spending millions on new tooling for each different width axle they make.
As far as fitting the 6BT in an AD truck engine compartment, the space is there for the most part. Plenty of height, slightly narrow (but with a little metal shaping to make clearance where needed in the inner fenders it shouldn't be a problem) and length, the "hard" one, the 6BT (from web resources) is only 6"+/- longer then the stovebolt it replaces, I can push the center of the fire wall back to give clearance at the rear of the head and maybe hump up the tunnel for a bit more clearance. I've swapped a 354 hemi into a 53 Studebaker Commander without cutting the hood, it doesn't get much tighter then that. And Grigg, you should know about tight engine compartments those Detroits are giant hunks of cast iron.
The dana 70s and 80s that come out of the P-30 trucks, how do they stack up to the stock rear for capacity? They seem to be somewhat lighter duty and the next step up in modern equipment seems to be 2 1/2 ton or bigger. There doesn't seem to be a real 2 ton style rear end out there anymore, it's either a big light truck rear or a heavy duty truck rear. This isn't a huge concern, just more wondering on my part.
Thanx for the input and questioning, it makes me do more research and that can only help the project to go smoother and the end result be better.
Jaysin
