The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts Help with '35 tow truck

My buddy has a '35 tow truck and would like to upgrade the front to later model 8 lug spindles and drum brakes. Will the spindles from a '50s truck work on his stock axle? He is putting a rear axle from a '70s 1 ton in it and would like to have 8 lugs all the way around.

I'm curious about this as well. My friend is doing a 35 1-1/2 ton and he wants to do the same. I can supply the measurements of the 35 Pins and End of the I-beam. if that would help.

I wonder though if he wouldn't be better off with the P-30 conversion (see tech tips) that would keep the axle rating a lot higher.

He's trying to keep this as simple as possible and was hoping that a later spindle would work on his axle. We can get the dimensions from his axle, but can't find a '50s 3/4 or 1 ton spindle to measure.

In that case maybe you could post those measurements. Heck it might even help to post the spindle measurements as well. Then the guys with the later parts would have something to go by. There a bunch of guys here with AD trucks, but I doubt the earlier sizes are common knowledge.

The end of the axle that the spindle goes onto is 2 11/16" thick and the king pin is 15/16" diameter.

I was just at another Chevy site and a guy had a 31-51 king pin set for sale. It said in the ad it was for large trucks. That might speak towards a 51 spindle working on the 35 axle. Here's the link http://vcca.org/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/166745/1931_1951_king_pin_set#Post166745