The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Change out torque tube axle- how?

I have a 53 1/2 ton, with a beat rear-end. I am trying to keep the original driveline, but would love to have better gearing and regular driveshaft. Has anyone done this?

Dave,

The easiest way to get a little better gearing and keeping the rest of your original driveline (torque tube?) is to find a 1954 1/2 ton torque tube. Your '53 has a 4.11 rear end and the '54 has a 3.90.

Not much improvement but it is noticeable (about 5%?).

You say, however, that you want a regular driveshaft. In that case, you would have to obtain a suitable rear-end (and springs or spring mounts), driveshaft, transmission, and possibly clutch housing (or housing adapter). This does not "keep the original driveline" but it keeps your engine.

It seems that many people have done this (at least many people have talked about this).

Here is an article on transmission swap. The Tech Tips section of the forum has a few articles on transmission swaps.

At the bottom of this article in information on rear ends. Maybe other people will post their personal experiences with swapping/adapting drive-train components.

Tim

If you are thinking about converting your truck to an open driveline keep in mind that nearly every one of those conversions puts the axle a bit more forward, this results in the wheels not being centered in the wheel wells.
If you aren't bothered by the aesthetics go this route.
There is only one year axle housing that puts the axle where it should be, a half year actually, it's the 1955 first series.
You will have to weld perches on the top of the axle housing to properly place the axle but it will look correct.

I may be wrong, but I think the 53 and the 551st both had there springs run under the axle. 552nd and later had the spring on top of the axle.

Also check where the locating pin on your spring is. I believe the 1953 locator pin is not in the center of the perch but about an inch ahead. The 1955 1st series pin is in the center. There are kits that change the locator pin to the correct location.

Bill Schickling

last information is correct. 55 1st has rear axle housing above springs with locating pin for all practical purposes dead center while the earlier springs pin is more forward.

i put a 1979 nova in my 54/3100. you can get a relocating kit from fatfenderstreet rods, which also lowers it 1-2 inches dependending what kit you get. the gear ratio is a little low numerically, 2.73 but it works for me. ron

A Task Force center section will bolt right into your original 53 axle housing. They are 3.90. It will give you an open drive. You can keep the same springs and e-brake set up. But you MUST weld the pivot pin on your spring mounts otherwise you will hear the strangest metal noises.

I installed Patrick's 3:55 gears a couple winters ago, keeping the TT setup. Lots of work but turned out great. Now I can clip a good 65 mph, but with drums all around I hope no one slams on their brakes in front of me.

I used a 76 -Olds Cutlass diff and it was the exact width, After welding in homemade perches, I redrilled the hole in the perches closer to the front to keep the diff in the right location. I then used in combination with the original shock mounts ,ones out of a 57 chev car and U-bolts I picked up at the local Canadian Tire for $28 . Total cost was $45 ,including the price of the rear end. Screw the kit, make your own stuff. :-)

OLblu49, thanks for the post, so what do you do at the transmission? I am not yet that experienced with these, are they not a sealed type outlet? So you say open driveline, at the back with u-joint, and a regular chevy yoke at the front? Leaks?

Another option if you wanna keep your tranny is to get the "adapter" that some of the bigger trucks had that goes from the closed drive line to the open.I think the 3/4 and 1 Ton trucks had them. It goes from the trans to the adapter enclosed, then opend from the adapter to the rear end. I've snagged a couple over the years and could get you a pic next time i'm up at our farm. You basically shorten up the torque tube to run to this adapter then go open to whatever "better ratio" rearend.

Also I believe Speedway sells a kit to convert an enclosed tranny to open as well but it's pricy.

MONGO

I'm interested in changing to an open drive line. Does anyone have more information on "Task Force Center Section". I appreciate any information & help

1953 Smoker what you need is a transmission from a Task Force year truck. It will bolt up to the bell housing and it will take the drive shaft from the same era giving you an open drive with a 3.90 axle ratio. I have heard of some people modifying their original transmission to make it open at the end but that is too advanced for me. The TF transmission like all have a rear seal to keep the lube inside. On the AD with a torque tube this seal can fail and the lube will run down to the differential overfilling it and possibly blowing out the seals, not to mention running the tranny dry. If you need to discuss this further you can email me.
Bill

Classic Truck magazine will be running a series of articles on upgrading a 53 Chev and will be using a 55 center sction in their original axle housing. That plus a host of other neat ideas including a dropped axle and disc brakes.

If you are switching to an open driveline axel there are a few things to keep in mind, and tricks too... Read all the threads you can before you get started. here's what I learned doing mine.

First- Bolt pattern- Wanna keep the front rims the same as the back? look for a 6 lug axel, such as those used on the Chevy Luv. Planning on upgrading to discs in the front one day, the 5 bolt on 4 3/4" circle kits are cheaper than any other.

Second- Width of axel- Keeping the same rims, use the same width. Using different rims? Make sure and take into account the backspacing on the new rims when you are calculating the axel width because the older rims had the mount surface about in the middle of the rim, newer rims have them further towards the outside which means you need a slightly wider axel.

Third- Gear ratio- Whether you are keeping the stock tranny or switching to a T-5 or some other tranny, you should figure out what gear ratio will work best for you before you go shopping for rear differentials, so you find what you need- Personally, I like 3.42:1

Fourth- Positraction? There's lots of them out there under sedans, station wagons, cadillacs, trucks and retired police cars (ie caprices). If you aren't in a rush, might as well find one.

Fifth- Brakes- While hunting through the bone yard for your rear diff, check the brakes- One of two otherwise equal candidates might get ruled out on the basis of the state of the brakes or the choice between 12" drums and 10" drums.

Sixth- Coil vs. Leafspring? Most of the 10 bolt posi's I found came with coil springs. NO big deal, just cut of the mounts with an angle grinder and cut off wheel and weld in some spring perches right where you need them. Trying to find an axel with spring perches in the right spot is a lot of unneccesary work. Alternatively, bolt/weld in a four link suspension kit and go with coil springs- Not a huge task or very expensive either. In fact, in my case it would have been at least $100 less than getting my leaf springs re-arched and repaired.

Seventh- Sway bar- Is there one on the axel you are buying at the junk yard? If so, don't forget to buy it too. They're easy to hook up to your truck and will make a noticable difference in the handling for the cost of readily available mounts attached to the swaybar that came stock with your axel. (Autozone-$20-$30).

Eigth- Driveshaft- Measure the length you need once the axel is in the car and find one at the boneyard, have new bearings put in and balance it.

Ninth- Pinion Angle. Make sure the new rear diff is set at the same angle as your engine.

Tenth- Axel/Pinion Seal- Your 'new' axel might have been sitting in the boneyard for a long time- Might as well replace the axel, pinion and cover seals- They aren't expensive at $5/each its around $20 total. You'll probably want to change the fluid anyhow so this is the time to pull the axels and replace the seals (and maybe the bearings too.) Changing the Pinion seal probably requires an Inch/Pound torque wrench so if you don't have one and it ain't broke...

Eleventh- Last but certainly not least- Emergency Brake Cables- Your new axel probably doesn't have the right e-brake cable to work with you stock set up, and as far as I can tell, no-one makes a bolt in replacement except Lokar (and they ain't cheap). However, you might do two things First, using the cables on the axel have a threaded bolt end swerged on. Second, use a wire clamp, make a loop through a 5/16th fine thread bolt and clamp down.