The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts 1959 viking 60

Hi Stovebolt This summer I bought a 59 viking 60. I don't know why but I really like the way it looked. Paid to much and I'm finding that was just the beginning. My question is this when I did the gear ratio test rear wheels off the ground tape on tire and drive shaft it comes out to 3 and 3/4 turns drive shaft to 1 rotation of tire. So in the specs for 59 it says my rear axel is a 7.20 :1 I'm thinking its two different things and would a 2 ton truck have 3.73:1 gear ratio? It has a 132.5 wheel base,vin number v6a590107606 max gvw 16,000. It also had a after market dump bed,it also has a sm420 trans,and a 283

Hy randy w. welcome, if your truck has a single speed rear axle, the 7.20:1 ratio sounds correct. No truck of that vintage that I have ever had anything to do with had a rear axle ratio below 5.00:1. I hope you enjoy your truck.

Hi Randy, welcome to the site! I have a 58 Viking 60. Does yours have a single speed rear, or a 2-speed rear? (shifter would be a button to push/pull on the trans shifter)

Hi 69 Cuda no it has a single rear end, I checked this morning to see what I come up with if I do 2 full rotations of the tire and the drive shaft turned 7.20 or somewhere in that neighborhood. So that's where I'm at, my plan is to make the orange beast a fifth wheel hauler, so first I'll up grade the braking system and then install a ranger torque splitter. I might be on the road next year sometime. I was looking for numbers on the rear axle and after scraping 60 yrs of gunk off I found some on the face plate where the drive shaft enters they don't seem to agree with the 59 specs, the # is 3758220 might be a part # for all I know

Jack up one rear wheel and turn the driveshaft. The spider gears will double the wheel speed so your 3 3/4 turns of the driveshaft will actually be approximately a 7.50:1 ring and pinion ratio. To get an accurate count of driveshaft revolutions it would be necessary to roll the truck forward in a straight line and count the driveshaft turns for one turn of the rear wheels..
Jerry

Randy, my plan was the same, you wont get very far trying to upgrade parts because there isnt anything bolt in thats available as far as i know (spent the last 4 months scouring google & this site) also ranger overdrive units are discontinued. I tried to order one last week 1/13/2021. contacted advance adapters they informed me that it was no longer being produced. Stuck in the same boat you are. So i picked up a kodiak 4500 as the frame matched up quite well to my stock frame, 6.6 duramax,power steering, 4w power disc brakes and highway capability. Should be interesting when it comes time to line everything up though, goodluck! And if you change out your axles f+r make sure you save the hubs and drums and shoes and all the hardware wheel cylinders etc!! Some guys on here would kill for some of those parts since none of it is reproduced. Even if the wheel cyls are junk they can be rebuilt so save it all!

Thanks for clearing that up Hotrod Lincoln I new there was more to it. Thanks for the info Black Viking 60 even if it isn't what I want to hear and good luck on your build. I was wondering if anyone has found a duel reservoir master cylinder for big bolts?

Randy, you can frankestein it, i was going to do so initially, gm master cylinder p# 84397946 bolt that to a hydroboost unit made for the 1/2ton trucks. (Its just a booster, and im sure other companies make them but wilwood sells the 10# residual check valves you put on on each line, it has the correct bore size and mountimg pattern for the standard gm master cylinder 2 bolt attaching but with our needed 1.5" bore for fluid volume and the hydroboost is a much better brake booster than the stock hydrovac, i believe you can get that from western chassis p# HBKX-T5559. Goodluck! If they start producing the ranger overdrive again ill be selling my c4500 so i dont have to do a chassis swap on my viking. Cause i would prefer to keep mine since i just dropped 2k into it.