Quote:
Originally Posted by anythingonwhlz
I really dont want to have to do alot of mods to swap the rear end. I was hoping there is a simply drop in and bolt up 5 lug rear end.
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Unfortunately there is no drop in and bolt up 5-lug option. The link Robert posted shows a number of approaches others have taken. And I didn't see anything there that surprised me in any way.
The stock rear was about 62 inches wide wheel mounting surface to wheel mounting surface. If you get much narrower than that the tires will rub the bed, much wider and they will stick out of the fenders. So you want to find a rear that will put your wheels and tires inside the wheel well with enough clearance both inside and outside.
Quote:
Originally Posted by anythingonwhlz
I thoght I could just slip on a 5 lug drum,am I wrong?
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Well you said '54 and I limited my thinking to '54 car brakes. The '51 to '54 Car has Bendix type brakes which are different than the Huck brakes a '50 has.
I've never swapped Huck brakes but its possible that 5-lug Huck drums and hubs would be almost that easy. Those would be '49 and '50 Chevy car brakes.
I've not tried this particular swap but that could be easy to do without the backing plates though you may still need to match the bearing sizes.
I last did this type of swap in the middle 70's and I'm a little fuzzy on some of the details especially the bearings part... If I'm wrong I'm sure someone will come along and correct me.
Like I said before, I prefer the disk conversions for the front these days. I can't imagine doing all that work and still having drum brakes. Especially Huck drum brakes...