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Is a conversion from Huck to Bendix brake system in the realm of possibility on a '49 3100 rear? If so, what year donors should I be looking at and what level of grief can I expect?

Ive never done it but it should be straight forward. 51-54 parts will bolt right up. Probably 55-59 also.

I'll start looking for a possible donor, I had a '65 rear disassembled and it looked promising, but there was a slight indentation in the original backing plates and the donors were flat. All said and done it looked fine, except that the axles became 1/2 inch too short and the c-clips would not engage. It was a lot of wasted time but an education none the less.

I'm in the middle of this swap and found that the easiset way is to find a later model AD rearend. The Bendix brakes were first used on 53 and later I believe. I have a 54 I bought from Banter's salvage yard in Hudson Florida. Unfortunately I didn't know there is also a standard transmission rearend and an automatic made for the 54 year and guess what. I ended up with the one for an automatic and the torque tube is several inches shorter than one for a standard trans. I'll be changing over my 49 T-tube and carrier and using the 54 banjo housing with the bendix brake backing plates.

I had a 54 rear w/bendix on the project when I rec'd it,it had no driveshaft with it. So I went back to the original w/torque tube and re-vamped the pumpkin w/3:55 gears from Patrick's and had everything all sweet and THEN looked at the Huck system. talk about pre-planning and scoping things out. But, at least I have 6 lugs on all four wheels!

1/2 ton Bendix started in 1951.