The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Swapping out torque tube '46 Burb

Hello,
Is there a listing in the archives or a source to go to on how to swap out a torque tube for an open drive shaft? Parts needed , procedure, etc. Does anyone make any of the needed parts? Thanks,Richard

Here's some REAR END CHOICES Being in the UK may present some issues finding these. I know when I converted my 53 Suburban years ago, I used a passenger car rear end with 5 lugs. I had to weld new perches on the rear end and make sure i centered it correctly in the wheel wells.

I am sure there are others who have installed later model rear ends on the art Deco series truck, they will chime in.

What are you trying to achieve? I can assure you that a torque tube setup is quite roadworthy once rebuilt.

I am looking for an adapter to go on the front of the differential and the rear of the tranny to give me a universal to put in an open drive. My thought is it would make any future repair work a lot easier> Ric

Its a little more work than that. But you can change the gears and all the bearings to make it run well. I have a torque tube setup in my truck that is rebuilt and can drive faster than speed limits allow.....

Hey Sweet,
Thanks for the info. Sounds like I need to do more homework. I was looking to make things easier to work on. As for drivability I think the Burb will do ok. I have a 235 from a '58 which has been rebuilt by a machine shop. So I was thinking the open driveshaft might be a good option. Now I must relook. Thanks again, Ric

It all depends on what you want to do with the truck. If you keep the orginal style transmission whether its a 3 or 4 speed you can keep the stock torque tube. To go even further, you can install taller gears so achieve higher speeds. Again, depends on what you plan to do with the truck.

I installed 3:55 gears since I have a 261 and like to go on long trips to shows when time allows. Take a look at my Webshots album to see what I did. I can drive 60-80mph all day long.