The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline 42-46 1.5 T rear gear sets?

I'm about to tear into my rear end and had to wonder if anyone has had any luck finding rear end parts for the ton-and-a-halfs. Seen plenty of stuff for the smaller rigs but nada for the bigger trucks. I believe mine to be 5.42 which I hope to keep but will confirm here shortly. Any experience with this rear end to share short of swapping out?

The first thing to do prior to tear down is to measure the ring gear to pinion backlash so you can set it back that way upon reassembly.

Axle tear down

Axle rebuild

You can pick up a lot of spare parts via ebay for pretty reasonable. I did have to go through 3 rear ends from '41-53 to come up with a matching set of good sidegears. There are very slight differences between the years. Some gears have thrust washers behind them, others have a slightly thicker gear.

Most of these parts are either good or pretty obviously bad. A little pitting in the teeth won't hurt.

They are pretty easy to work on other than everything being so god damned heavy.

Jeff

Hey rusted --- did you have to replace any bearings while you were in there?

Every last one. Not because I had to, but because if I was going to rebuild it I wanted to do it once and do it right. Plus I spent quite a bit on the 5.43 gear set I installed and I didn't want to mess it up. The bearings are available from bearing suppliers, although the large pinion bearing is quite expensive.

Jeff

Rusted --- I'm hoping to install all new bearings myself. Where did you find yours? And what did you do to your gear set?

I think I found the pinion bearing through one of the NOS parts suppliers listed in the Links page. The carrier bearings I bought new if my memory serves me, through Applied Industrial Technologies.

My truck originally had the 6.17 gear set. It's still sitting on a shelf somewhere in my shed. I swapped it out when I bought the 5.43 set.

Jeff

Great info...many thanks bud. And you just reminded me...I still need to confirm the final gearing in my rear end. Really hoping they are NOT the 6.17 set. Need to jack that sucker up and find out for sure.

Well crappo. I had been told from the get-go the rear end was a 5.43 (which was "standard")but it appears to be the #$%@!% 6.17(optional). I was finally able to jack it up and rotate the rear wheels but got just a smidge over three turns on the driveshaft to one of the wheel. Tried it with just the left wheel up, then tried it with both wheels up. Either way it came up an RCH over three turns. As near as I can tell, that would indicate 6.17, right? (read something about doubling the count under certain circumstances). Anybody else have any ideas or should I just pull the cover and try to count'em to be sure. Have not been able to find any markings on the case so far and the "plate" has long since been wiped clean of everything but the VIN.

As long as I'm at it, I might as well put the word out here for a 5.43 R&P if anybody has one that's drivable.

Found a good 5.43 ring gear...anybody have a pinion to match? Any 1.5 ton from '41 to 52 will work according to the book. Part No. 604416 1941-52 1 1/2 ton 7 + 38 teeth.

Still searchin' for a 5.43 ton-and-a-half dually rear end. Either complete or the R & P set. Anybody have one sitting around they want to sell? I understand that anything from '41 to '52 will fit.

Bump --- still shopping for gears. Any out there?