The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop new guy with a ? about a GMC front axle

Ken W. told me about this site(is he here? Anyone know him?), so I had to check it out...very cool. Anyway, I have a minor dilema in trying to find info for this axle. I tried the search, but came up empty handed. I'm weeks from picking up a 1952 GMC military duece and a half for free. I'm looking for any, and all, information I can get about the front axle on those. Best I can tell, it uses Eaton axles and has 6.17 gears - am I right? I think so.

What I'm looking for are any pictures that clearly show those front axles, and ANY information I can get about them....part numbers would be REAL nice to have, or maybe even the model number those axles were. I read in another message board that those front axle counter-rotate?? - is that right? Best I could tell by what the person said is that the diffs rotate the opposite direction a light duty truck's front axle does. Any truth to that?

Thanks for any help you guys can give me. I'll find the right forum to post about my bro's old '59 Apache

David - there's a company near my home that has specilized in old military trucks - a family business slince 1960. They are amazing and have everything all the way up to Hummers. Check their site: www.clarktruck.com I'd be suprised if they couldn't help.

Hey David, welcome to Stovebolt. I don't know for sure about those axles, but I'm wondering if the "counter rotation" you mentioned might be that the pinion gear meets the ring gear over the axle centerline rather than under it which is common to most vehicles? I believe this was (is) done to help increase ground clearance. I'm not sure if this is the right answer, just conjecture on my part-I may just be blowing smoke out of my [censored]... Anyhoo, best of luck on your project, I'm quite sure someone here who DOES have the knowledge you seek will chime in soon enough.

Regards,
Wannabe

Welcome. 1. Conrad of this site community knows something about these big old GMCs. 2. Besides Clarks of WV (I think they handle newer deuce-and-a-halfs) there is memphisequipment.com and they claim to be able to sell you trucks and parts of the early 50s vintage 6x6s (M211, etc.). 3.If you go to this site's "Lounge" area go down about 25 threads to one called "Trucks 4 sale in my neighborhood" there is a 53 military for sale in Oregon City Oregon ... phone them. 4. Lastly, a guru that knows a ton about these trucks and who recently sold the M211 he restored is Joe Young in New Jersey, and his link is http://hometown.aol.com/mvtrucker/sitemap.html

Good luck.

Ed B.

Nice! Thanks for the info guys. I think i'll email the guuys in those two links, and see if what I think to be true for this axle, ,really is.

And to answer the confusion on the 'counter-rotating' front axle....best I can tell is, it turns the opposite way a standard pickup front driveline turns....I believe it's still a low-pinion, and not a high-pinion that **** uses. Now, IF this is true, then that will work out great for me, since I can just flip the axle over end for end, and have the diff on the correct side, with the diff also spinning the right way that my Bronco's Tcase turns. Yes, you read that right, these axles are for my Bronco.

I checked out that '53 military for sale in Oregon City....hoo-boy! Soon as I've got the cash for it, I'm callin that guy....and hope he's still got it by then

Another question - am I correct in understanding that these old GMC militarys have the 302 I6? Would that be multi-fuel, or not? Also, how does the size of one of these engines - called Hercules, right?? - compare to a Cummins you'd find in your Ram pickups?

LMAO - Someone's got this board to edit out F o r d? HAhahaaaa, that's funny!!

If original, the motor should be a GMC 302 or 270 CID gas engine. They were mostly the same as civilian GMC motors of the same displacement. Easy to ID by engine number on block behind distributor - first 3 numbers are the displacement. Military blocks may also have a data tag on lower front of block on the passenger side. Most were not machined for a fuel pump.

Multi-fuel came later but not on 270/302 motors.

Jack
www.inliners.org

Right on, thanks, I'll check that to see what I come up with.

Did a quick google search and found a few sites:

6x6 registry
GMC page of that site

Conrad\'s website

Military Vehicle Preservation Assoc.

Surplus parts