Hello,

I have removed the front axle from my 1949 3100 and had a few questions.

After searching the forums here and looking at a few of the online parts and restoration manuals it looks like the 1/2 ton front axles are the same between 1949 and 1951 (not considering brakes).

I have what I believe are 1949 (from the truck I purchased) and 1951 (a spare) front axles and I see many differences. The king pins are much different diameters. The hole in the spindle for the outer diamaeter of the bushing on the 1949 is approximately 0.855" which is smaller than the king pin itself is supposed to be according to the manuals I have seen. On the 1949 the bolt hole pattern for the U-bolts is square and on the 1951 the pattern is rectangle. The axle castings themselves do not even appear identical. On the 1949 there are triangular features near the spindle on the axle on the top and bottom on each end but on the 1951 axle that triangle piece cast onto the axle is only on the top on each end.

When I started this I was expecting the only difference to be the brakes and the attachment of the lever action shocks on the 1949 and the tube shocks on the 1951.

I guess after all that the main questions I have are: Does this sound like a 1949 front axle that I described or was this probably from something else and not stock. How does the lever action shock attach to the axle? Is there a hole in the pad on the axle where the u-bolts attach or is there a separate bracket that attaches with the u-bolt? Does anyone have any pictures of an original 1949 1/2 ton front axle? Also, is there somewhere I can see a picture of the original style rubber bump stop that would have came on the truck? The ones currently on the 1949 have a matel bracket below the leaf springs and a metal bracket with the rubber stop on the top of the leaf springs (I believe this is why the pattern on the 1949 axle is square because the bump stock bracket goes over the edge of the leaf springs and makes the overall width slightly larger than the leaf spring width) Should the steering linkage be the same between the two years?

Thanks for any information. From what I found the only difference I think I should see between the two years is the attachment of the shocks and the brakes but I havent been able to find much information on factory bump stops on the leaf springs between the frame and leaf springs.