Hello Everyone! (this is my first post) I have a 1954 6100 and I have been paying close attention to all these discussions related to upgrading the front axle. Has anyone looked to upgrade a old Chevy 2 ton to a Spicer I-80s (like they use on the International 4300s) or a F600 or F700 front axle ...
Closest I've come is thinking about an I-60 axle because I have one complete minus the I-beam. I did look at the available Spicer I-beams and they are all first to wide, which is no surprise, and secondly they are also pretty long between spring pad and king pin, making narrowing difficult because once narrow enough from king pin to king pin the springs try to land on the curved portion between the pads and the king pin, essentially the original spring pads end up in the center of the new narrowed axle. I don't think narrowing between king pin and spring pad is a good idea.
To get an idea of what I'm talking about have a look at this picture
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2766394870080251109VtZxqDIt is a Rockwell/Meritor axle and dimensions will be very similar if not exactly the same as the Spicer I-60 or I-80 as far as track width and spring spacing.
The axle pictured was narrowed about 8-10" already, and to make it fit in an AD Chevy it would need to be narrowed another FOOT. That leaves no place for the springs to land, note the huge distance between king pin and spring pads. I even made spring pad extensions to work as it was for that ford truck...
That leaves us looking for an I-beam that is more suitable and can be adapted to the Spicer outers.
I have cut and pasted the following from a previous discussion/ PM about these Spicer outers and trying to fit in an AD truck:
"The front axle parts/hubs and rotors we have are for a 1994 Spicer I-60 axle.
Looks like an International truck only axle, and king pin should be 1.359" diameter according to the parts book they gave me at NAPA"
"A newer model Spicer D-600N or D700N... has a 9 degree king pin inclination angle, and I don't know what yours I-60 has, think it is the same though?"
"I'm about 97% sure it's the same as the newer axle, and should be 9 degrees."
"Looking through the NAPA parts book the most likely non Spicer axle may be a GM one with 1.25" king pins, would need to make thicker bushings for the spindles. Again, not sure if the king pin inclination angles are the same"
"A P-30 axle appears to be a 9 degrees king pin inclination angle. and the pin diameter is 1.179", in comparison to 1.359" the I-60 should be.
I'm thinking that we can use a P30 I-beam (rated for 5,000 lb) with Spicer spindles, would need to make slightly heavier bushings, and possibly a small extra shim for the thrust bearing."
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So that thought process was a little over a year ago, and I still plan to narrow a P30 axle and use the Spicer disc and spindles.
However, I doubt that is a good idea for anyone else.
Reason it may work for us is the Spicer outers are new and free, and they have 6 lug Budd bolt pattern that matches the Dana 80 rear and 22.5 wheels already on hand.
The simpler solution is to use the P-30 axle complete from end to end (minus the 8-10" in the center)...
Grigg
