The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts 67 c50 axle swap

Honestly not as hard as I expected in some ways and harder in others. Definitly going to be a chore to get the new axle in but the old one is finally out but 56 years of rust and 10 years at least of not moving made the front of the leafs want to stay in the hanger but a air bottle jack was the way to go definitly saved time and made me feel safer working the jack not under the truck.

Looks sketchy, be careful.

YIKES! Yes, be careful

That's a disaster looking for an excuse to happen- - - - -stack up a few railroad ties under the frame ahead of the spring hangers, or at least slide the dual wheels and tires you took off the rear under the frame.
Jerry

We got railroad ties under the truck with 6 ton stands set on top of them truck has been standing for days with no issues while I wait to have enough people to put the new axle underneath. Don't worry guys while there isnt a axle underneath the truck no one goes under it cause this things is 5 tons of squish and I dont trust nothing to hold it up if there isnt something else to catch it.

Gonna do some sketchy schtick, doo-dah doo-dah!

Hope I get away with it, oh de doo dah day!

'm gathering parts to do the same swap on my '58 4400. I do have the benefit of a lift though. I was planning to raise the truck and roll the old rear out and roll the new back under. My current issue is the drive shaft, the length and the transmission yoke need to looked at.

I just got done getting the new axle underneath and I am pretty sure my driveshafts will line up since I am not cutting the frame. All we did was roll the old axle out and roll the new one in but there was some butt puckering getting the springs to sit in the hangers all the way since it is a pretty tight fit had to stick a crowbar against the spring in the perch to push the spring over and a whole truck just dropping 3in in front of my face made my sphincter shrink about 3 sizes. But in the end there were no ER visits and now I just need to hook up the driveshaft, rebuild the whole brake system, remove and replace front axle and tires, and mount the new seats then I am good to go down the road.

Looking good!

Those old fashioned looking tires are a lot like what my Dad's C60 had on it when I was a kid. I don't think they make tread patterns quite like that anymore. Looks good!

I have seen similar style 10-20 for sale and one day when I get new tires I will probably buy those cause they look cool and this truck is probably going to spend a lot of time in lose dirt and whatnot

Little update for you so you know what to expect. Since my new axle is heavier duty it has a different u-joint and the pumpkin is longer so the shaft needs shortened and that means I apparently have to have the whole 3 piece assembly balanced as well so I have to take that apart. I took it to a shop to have it shortened and a new end put on and ended up with a new tube for free because when they were cutting the old one it twisted so they had to put a new one on. At the time I did not know that you need to have a multi-piece drive shaft balanced as a unit and when I went to install it it was too long so now I get to disassemble the whole three piece probably below freezing temperatures or wait till the weather figures out what it wants to do. But overall cost just for the new end and joint and shortened was 230 dollars but I do now know how much balancing the whole assembly will be

I'm curious about balancing the multi-shafts as a unit. My truck has 3 shafts with pillow block/midship bearings supporting the center shaft and ends of the front and rear shafts. I would think that as long as the phase hasn't changed with the new shaft and u-joint then just balance the new shaft and be done. Am I missing something, how would they balance a multi-piece unit with floating midship bearings?

I am not entirely sure why you would have to have all 3 balanced together cause in my mind if they are all perfectly balanced it should be fine and you put the joints in at 90 degrees but what do I know I guess

But when I called them about the shaft being too short and asked about the balancing they did say I need to bring it in with the bearings as well

Got the front axle mocked up today as well as the new hydroboost master cylinder and booster in. The cool part is this booster is actually vacuum and hydraulic boost. It came out of a square body c70 bus and it barely clears the steering column and the alternator bracket.

So you are switching to the Dayton wheels from the old 5-10 two ton bolt pattern?

EDIT: Oops nevermind. Went back through page 1 of the thread. Yep, new Daytons.

yep going to daytons becuase for the most part this is probably cheaper than other solutions due to only paying 300 bucks for the front and rear axles and I like the look. I did end up needing the driveshaft work as previously mentioned but part of the 500ish I spend on it was the 200$ in new carrier bearings which would have needed replaced anyway. the front axle though is where I have had to get creative. Due to the difference in spring width I have had to have the spacer blocks milled for the pin alingement and put in plate to simulate a 3in wide spring where the u-bolts go. In addition I am going to have to modify the top plates to work with the longer distance between the front and back u-bolts. Also since my truck isnt a powersteering truck I am making a custom drag link with two separate sized tie rod ends and I am going to have a custom tube machined since the rod threads are different. Also since these are disc brakes I am adding the hydroboost master cylinder and boosters.

Another advantage to the Daytons would be, if they came with a Spicer rear axle. Then you could very likely get any gear ratio you wanted, and also the bearing kit, versus the unicorn T170 or the even more unobtainable T150 gears.

the rear axle I got is a eaton 17221 which you can still get parts for. Honestly the gear ratio in this axle is perfect for what I want which is a truck that will pull anything but still be able to do decent highway speeds so the 9.17/6.50 low/high is great after I swapped the rear axle I did move the truck around some and it would just idle no gas in first and reverse even starting off. I also pulled a tree over until one of the forks in the tree got caught on another tree and it was just digging a hole in second low.