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hi guys
I am new to the old chevy trucks. i bought a 1950 chevy 3/4 ton truck and i need rear end help. im not using the truck to move anything its just going to be a weekend cruiser. so what rear ends will fit and work the best. im thinking of using a t5 tranny. im hoping to do as litle mods to put a rear end in.

Hello to you too.

This subject comes up a lot here...a search will turn up hours of reading.
If you want to use a T5, why don't you leave your original rear in the truck. It will give you a final ratio in the low 3's
and you will only have to have a front drive shaft section made.

i wish i could but my problem with that is the owner before me took the ring and pinion and axle shafts and brakes off so i figured i would be cheaper and easer to put somthing diffrent in it. like i said if i could rebuild this rear end i would but it seems to be hard to find these parts i need.

Do you want to stay with 8 lugs?

i dont really care. no i am linking of putting disc on the front so the front wont be stock either.

Then you have probably dozens of options.

are any of these options going to be a easy swap in? What r my options?

This is my plan with a 51 3/4 ton:
3:42 rear from a 4wd S10. Locate axle back to center in wheel opening, use original springs. Driveshaft should bolt up with the correct ujoint. Keep the six and four speed. Change front axle bolt pattern to match the rear(5 bolt drums if there's an easy way).
It's a plan and it is more involved than it looks. I'm sure someone will chime in that knows more than me.

Jim

hey jim what year s10 4wd rear end are you using? did you have to cut and mod the rear axle to fit? could you send me pics? never done this before.

Does anyone alse have any other ideas? i could use all the input in the world

No pics right now. The 4WD S10 and S10 Blazer are the correct width. The 2wd will be to narrow. I believe any rear up to the Colorado will work, just be sure to measure and check the gear ratio. The 3:42 seems to be the most common. The axle code is normally in the golve box. GU6=3:42, GT4=3:73 but double check the stamped code on the axle tube and rotate and count to be sure. Most salvage yards don't take returns.
The S10 brackets will have to removed and new ones made to fit the old springs. This is not a bolt in swap but it ain't rocket science either.
JIm

On my 62 1/2 ton i found a doner truck...a 71.. and got the rear axle and front crossmember w/discs for cheap. i don't know much about the early fifties trucks, but this crossmember swap was pretty much a bolt in...had to weld new track arm brackets on the rear though.

Your truck would have been stock with Huck brakes and a lot of guys prefer the later Bendix type. You have to change so much to convert the early axle to Bendix that you'd probably be better off swapping axles.

That same basic axle design was used into the early 70's so a stock type axle is not hard to come by. I have two of them setting in my yard right now...

I recently put a GM 14-bolt under the rear of my '54 GMC 1-ton. Though mine is drum brakes, the axle is available with disks. Since you are not trying to maintain hauling capacity I'd suggest starting by figuring out how you are going to convert the front to disks and then limiting your rear axle search to those with the same bolt pattern.

There are no disk kits available for a 3/4-ton. You are either making up your own conversion, copying someone else's, and there are a few documented on the web, or swapping to a 1/2-ton front axle and using the 1/2-ton conversion kits.

The 1/2-ton conversions are either 5x4.75 (Chevy car) or the same six-lug pattern the stock 1/2-ton uses.

so jim any year s10 4wd will work?

Yes, S10/S10 Blazer 4WD, but always take your measurements and a tape with you to verify what you are buying.

You may get a better deal on the earlier ones since demand isn't as great.

You'll want to look for the later 4x4 S10s that have the 4.3 V6 in them, they're more likely to have the higher gear ratio. The older ones with the 2.8 or 4 cylider will most likely have a 3.73 or 4.10, with the 4.10 being very common.
Or for the best overall S10 axle, look for a '98-'04 with the ZR 2 package, preferrable a 2 door Blazer or 4 door cab pickup. Those use a narrowed version of the full size truck axle and most also have the rear disk brake option.

thanks guys this has been really helpful!

I have a 53 3/4 ton and I am using a 12 bolt Chevy truck rear end out of a 78. It is a 3:08 ratio, that I plan to change. But if you want to mount it under the springs of your truck (i.e. not dropping or lowering it), you do not even have to change the spring perches. Just move the 1/2" spacers at the spring eyes from outside the springs to the inside of the springs and that rear end will drop right in place. Use your original housing clamps, but buy some new 2" square bent u-bolts. This set-up will be a little wider than the 4x4 S10 rear. You can solve that problem by using the 3" wider rear fenders that are available or wheels with deeper backspacing.