The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts Will this work

Restoring my Chevy 1 1/2 ton and would like to have a higher rear end ratio for highway driving.
I found a 04 Dodge dually rear end that I can get for a good price . Seller says it has 3.73 gear ratio. Would this work and would I be able to find a way to have the wheels fit both front and back so I won’t have to carry two spare tires?

what year truck are you working on and what is the bolt pattern of your truck and the donor axle?

Assuming they are different bolt patterns, you would probably need a spacer or adapter for one of them. You could carry a spare for the front and just take odd one of the duals on the rear if you got a flat on the rear. That should get you to the next town, unless too loaded for only one of your duals in the rear.

measure the Dodge axle and your original, very likely the Dodge axle is much wider than your original. Could probably be made to work but wouldn't look proper.
The Dodge axle probably has disc brakes? It's not recommended to run disc on the rear without also having them in the front. Depending on the year of your original there may be options for swapping front disc brakes.

A GM axle from a P-30 or similar chassis can have 10 lug on 7.25" bolt circle, if this is what you have then might be a better candidate for a swap. They're not very wide, come with faster gears and even faster optional gears, and do have disc brakes, so again you're looking for front disc brakes.

My truck is a 1950 1 1/2 ton , I'll probably look for a GM with higher gear ratio. Even if I had to just carry a front spare I could live with that. I have a 283 with 4 speed transmission that came out of a later model truck to use. Would like to swap out the rear axle , diff to drive over 45 mph once and a while, won't be doing any heavy hauling.
If anyone has done this kind of swap I would like to know what rear axle you used.
Thanks

P-30 or 3500's also have a front axle that would match the rear bolt pattern, disc brakes would also match the rear, steering would be another part of the project.

Your wheels might not fit over the modern hubs, 22.5 rims off late '50's farm trucks will match your '20's, although they are somewhat rare. 19.5's are plentiful.

Ed