The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop Front end from a 52 to a 39

I want to keep my stock axle on my 1939 1/2 ton. I picked up a 1952 car front end because of the bigger brakes. I want to swap the hubs and still use the original axle from the 39. Has anyone done this before? Could it be as easy as new bearings?

Thanks
Scott

First question is why do you want to keep the stock axle on your 1939?

Use an axle from a 1941-1955.1 1/2 ton. This will give you bigger kingpins. If you look specifically for a 1953-1955 front axle, you will have the added benefit of the bendix brakes, which is a dramatic improvement over the huck brakes your 39 has.

The 41-55.1 [truck] axles are a direct bolt in for your 1939 axle. There are many aftermarket kits available to bolt disc brakes to the 1941-1955 axles. These kits might not work with your stock wheels. My $0.02 is to get the best brakes that are available. You will never know when a child might run out into the middle of the street. Stock stovebolts stop about as quickly as "Bambi on ice"

Will this give me a 5 bolt wheel pattern? I want to get away from the 6 bolt pattern.

The up to '55 front axles are all six lug as stock.

But the early Chevy car 5 lug hubs and brake backplates will fit the truck front axle, I had one of these a few years ago. I think the hub and brake setup came off a '53 Chevy car.

Disk brakes will give you 5 on 4 3/4" bolt pattern, Camero, Chevelle, Cutlass, GTO, etc.........

My '37 has a "55 axle under it with a disk brake kit. The brakes are from Master Power Brake and use '73-'77 A-body GM brakes and a custom made caliper bracket. Rear brakes and axle are from a '78 Trans Am, so I use the whole Camero/Trans Am brake system right down to the master cylinder and valving. Since my truck weighs the same as TA, it works out great.

You will need to swap rear axle, driveline, and transmission all to a open driveshaft system to get 5 on 4 3/4" rear wheels or find a way to re-drill the stock axles to five lug.

Joe

Did everything from the car fit without modification? If not what did you do to make it fit?

Scott

Look at www.droppedaxle.com Sid has a super article on the brake conversion along with axle measurements and king pin sizes. I have a 54-55 1st series axle on which a disc brake kit will be added. According to info at Sid's web-site it will bolt up to my 32 Chevy frame using the original 1 3/4 inch wide springs. Bigbadswingdaddy has given you GOOD INFO...

I want it to look stock but have the five bolt pattern to match the rear end I'm installing. I am replacing the enclosed drive shaft rear end with an enclosed drive shift rear end out of the same 52 car. This will give me better highway speed, five bolt pattern and still look stock. I do not want disk brakes. I want the 5 bolt pattern all round with it looking as stock as possible.

Good luck! Sounds like the hardway to accomplish your goals.

The spindles are different on the old axles compared to the newer axles which disk brakes came from so some sort of adapter will be needed. My kit uses a Ford inner wheel bearing on a custom made spacer/adapter, and a stock GM outer wheel bearing. The disk rotors and I am sure the drum brake hubs all use a bigger inner bearing so you will need to machine or buy the adapter. It doesn't make much since to adapt all the parts and still end up with drum brakes. With a closed wheel, you can not see the rotors unless you are under the truck looking. The open driveline has already removed any originality so disk brakes won't matter much. You can always claim it was a special order option, 99% of those looking wouldn't know the difference.

Check out the venders for brake kits, they should show what all is needed to do the job.

Joe