The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts 1.5 ton rear axles from the 30's to the 80's

So I was looking at the GM heritage center's data on the pre '41 chevy trucks and came up with a rather niche question.

I noticed that a 5.43 rear axle ratio was standard on most of the 1 1/2 tons while the 6.17 was an option.

All of the advance design 1.5 ton trucks have the 6.17 ratio, and I've seen posts that mention the H110 was built into the '80's and you could find 3rd members with 5.43 gears.

Seeing all the previous 1.5 ton rear axles with 5.43 ratios made me wonder if those old axles had the same 3rd member design and bolt pattern that the advance design and newer H110's had.

Has anyone looked at this, or does anyone have any of the older 1 1/2 ton rear axles or 3rd members laying around to compare with a newer advance design rear axle?

Another question is where does the 2 tons fit in.
Jeffrey

Most all of the 2 tons that I've come across have a 2 speed rear end. I don't think any came with the h110. One interesting thing I came across when looking at all the 30's literature was that before 1938 you only had two choices of truck (though many different bodies): the 1/2 ton, and the 1 and 1/2 ton. They didn't come out with the 3/4 and 1 ton designations till '38.

Good questions. Hopefully someone will be along soon with some insight.

My grandfather owned several mid-1930's Chevy and Ford big trucks, which he used for delivering ice and coal, pulling trailer loads of beer from Milwaukee and St. Louis to Nashville, and at least one dump truck used to haul gravel for building the runway for an Air Force base in Smyrna Tennessee. The 1934 model trailer-towing rigs had crash box 4 speed transmissions and vacuum-boosted mechanical brakes on the tractors, and no brakes at all on the trailers!
Jerry

6.17 was the standard gear, 5.43 was the optional ratio. They are extremely hard to find. I recently got lucky and found a brand new R&P on a shelf in Dallas, TX for $350. I snapped it up and installed in my '50 4100. Now It'll cruise at 55-60.

Here's the thread I had on this:

https://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthread...3_gear_set_for_the_H110.html#Post1197067

The original thread:

https://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthread...le_questions_-_which_on.html#Post1171571

I do like that 4100.

I know the 6.17 was standard on the AD 1.5 tons, but before '47 or '41 (I don't remember which) the standard gearing was 5.43 and 6.17 was an rpo.

I'm curious if anyone has both 1.5 ton axles from the different generations to compare since the pre AD information doesn't designate the axle with as H110 or anything else.

It would be cool if that axle was made from the 30s till the 80s.

It's a good axle. It's relatively light for its GAWR. It's just a shame they only had two gear ratios.

It's a very tough-built axle. I was impressed with it when I had it apart for the gear change. The ring gear is about 12" if I remember correctly. All the parts (bearings and seals) are readily available from Rock Auto if you use a 1968 C30 as the source vehicle in their catalog. That was the last year the H110 was available in a regular production vehicle. Their catalog isn't very comprehensive for early model trucks, even though they used the same axle.

The earlier version was basically the same axle. The ring and pinion geometry was the same, however the pinion gear had a much longer input shaft on it because it was for a torque tube setup. I have not confirmed this myself but have talked at great length about it with another forum member that has a lot of experience with them. He seemed to think the early style 5.43 pinons could be modified to work with an open driveline, however I haven't actually seen what one looks like to be able to make a comparison and form an opinion on it myself.