Hello I finally found an old quick change axle buiilt using a 40's Ford truck axle. It's just the housing so I need to get the brakes, hubs, drive axles ring, pinion and carrier. Plan is to use it on a drag car using only pre 1962 parts and styling. From what I can find these had a 5 on 6-7/8" bolt pattern. True or false? Where there ever 15" wheels for this bolt pattern or only the 17" bead lock wheels? The later Ford axles F-2/3 seem to have similar hubs and brakes, but eight bolt. What was the bolt pattern diameter on those? Were there 15" wheels available for that bolt pattern? Please only wheels available before 1962. When did the wide five bolt pattern hubs come along? I have seen that on some old drag cars but mostly dirt track cars. What is the diameter of the brakes for these axles? Seems huge. Would a 15" rim even fit? In worst cas I guess I could modify it to run with Ford 9" axle ends, brakes, hubs and drive shafts. I'll probably try to use a detroit locker from a Ford 9" anyway. But it would be very cool to keep the full floating look as IU have seen on some older drag cars. Thanks, Manus
Measure the bolt pattern at the end of your axle tubes and see what fits. From the sound of it, you need all the guts anyway so you can just get what you want for axles and hubs as long as it will all fit in there. I'm unfamiliar with the axles and carriers on the old trucks. You can probably buy all that stuff new from Winters or Frankland I'd bet though. Pictures would help. But I can tell you that if it's made from a big truck rear, then start looking for the big truck brakes. I've seen them on old F2's and such but never took measurements. I believe they are at least 12" or possibly even more. You're probably going to want to run 16" wheels at least. The wheels I've seen on the old trucks look to be heavy steel 20-inchers.
You aren't giving us enough info to go on. FWIW, the '40-mid-50s 3/4t Ford and Studebaker used a Timken axle with a 6-lug bolt pattern and 16" or 17" wheels; no 15"s AFAIK. Buy the truck wheels, have the centers cut out and welded into rims of your choice. We did this all the time back in the bad old days. This Timken design is a two-piece vertically split housing. One side carried the ring gear and pinion. Two of the shorter sides were used for the axle housings on some early QCs. Thus, you'd need to find two of the Timkens and narrow them to fit your application. The 3/4t trucks were full-floating hubs and thus prized for dirt track racing. A bit OT, but I saw one old dirt modified which had two Timken rear full-floating hubs and a third welded onto the right front spindle to give a full-floater there also. jack vines
Yes it's a3/4 or 1 ton axle. Didn't know it was made by Timken but yes Studebake also used them as far as I know. Yes I have considered cutting out the centers from a pair of 17" 3/4 ton wheels and weld them to 15" wheels. The problem is just that if the brakes are to big it won't work. Since I need to buy all the parts it would be good to know if it will work or not. I have seen them in old pictures of gassers and so. But I have never seen the actual specifications or a close up pic. Oh well, I'll figure it out. Thanks, Magnus
The Stude 3/4t rear brake drums are 14" and huge, heavy, beautiful things. No way you'd want them on a rod. As usual, the Ford brake drums aren't as pretty as the Studebaker. Some of the later Dana 60 brake drums can be made to fit the Timken axle ends or just use the outer ends of the Dana welded onto the Timken housing. Just askin' - what's wrong with 16" tires on a rod? Was trad back in the day. I used mid-30s Ford V8 wires on my first A-bone. jack vines
15" wheels will fit over the 12" brake drums provided you have the correct drop-center on your wheels. Yeh, show a couple pics. There were many home-builts which welded the QC into the deep bell portion of the Timkin.
Does it look anything like my QC in this post? http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=226194
Hello Have not recieved the axle yet. But I have some pics provided buy the seller. It's a Highland and as I said, it's just the housing, I need everything else. Problem being that I don't know if stock Ford parts will work. Mabe I need to find a set of old safety hubs or something. As mentioned this will go in a dragrace/gasser sort of car and I will run slicks. But there are 16" slicks available, I just didn't think of that. But I don't think there ever was a 16" wheel for the 5-bolt 3/4 ton axle, either. Thanks, Magnus
We ran the smaller Highland quickie in our Fiat drag car, which IMHO look much better on a hot rod than the bigger truck 3/4 ton ones. As far as I know, all Ford parts fit the highland quickies. Made in Springfield, MA for mostly circle track guys. I know Halibrand back covers fit them, Highland probably did a copy design and quickie gears interchange. Safety hubs with those open spider type backing plates and big Buick brake shoes are a nice combo. Can fit you up with the contact info for a guy in Rye, NH who has a basement full of old circle track equipment, he buys and sells, has used and NOS stuff. And is fairly knowledgeable. He was a crew cheif on a supermodified for many years in New England. PM me if you want the info.
Thank you all. I think I have most of the info I need. For the record, it's the big axle look I'm after. Just like the S&S Willys in the current Rodders Journal (#61). But it was the wheel fitment issue that was my biggest concern. Still don't really know what they used back in the day. But I'll figure it out. And yes the smaller V8 axle is better looking and I'd love to have one of those too. Thanks, Magnus
You should be able to find racing hubs/drums to fit. They look like a buick drum with a wide 5 center adapted to it. Some were one piece and some were 2. These will all be standard ford "wide 5" bolt pattern (36-39) I don;t know where to tall you to find them online but I've had luck at swap meets around here. Figure on paying about $75 each for good ones. Good luck Zach ** check post #33 here - http://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56660&showall=1
I would think you could convert the ends to what you need. Get a gearset to fit the center section and build the rest around what you can get. Quick change rears often were made to what the customer wanted.
I have a Highland going in my T, if you knock out the rivets you can remove the tubes, and run almost any other tube/ brake combo you want. There is a pretty good thread on here about the many quickies out there, The fellow who started it is very knowledgable, and there's a ton of good info on it. Good luck.
Not at all familiar with the Highland, but 99% sure those axle housings in the photo are Timken. It uses the modified Timken long section as the QC as well as the short side. Just to remind me, which QC used a custom cast center and two short Timken sides? FWIW remember, the Timken 3/4t full floating hub was the original "safety hub" and that's where we got them in the bad old days. jack vines
You can replace the axle tubes and use later Ford 9" bearing flanges, axles and brakes. If you use a Ford ring, pinion, and carrier you will need to have custom axles made with the 12 spline truck ends. Using the Ford 9" gives you a 5 on 4.5" bolt pattern and really opens up the wheel options.
Willys trucks used the Timken rear or a Dana 53. The axles were keyed like early Ford rears were but the axle shaft is twice the size or better. Center sections are the same and you might be able to scavenge one for parts. 3/4 ton wide five Ford truck hubs should fit or any wide five racing rear hub. Check out GearheadQC here on the HAMB he was collecting info on quick changes for a book. Jim
Hello there Bringing this old thread up agian. I have been thinking and I think I'll try to go with stock Ford brakes on this axle. So now is the question, what bolt patterns are available? And what wheels to use? I have seen wide five brakes and a smaller five bolt pattern (6.5"??) and I have seen the 8-bolt pattern. Did the 3/4 ton trucks ever come with 15" wheels or will I need to go to 16"? I don't want the lock ring type wheels. Would it be possible to find magnesium wheels? Have have seen a lot of old pics but never one for sale. Are they rare? Thanks, Magnus
I think more pictures and measurements of what's there would help. Can you find any markings or numbers anywhere?
How bad do you want to have something different because all it takes is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ & you can build that thing any way you want it
your making it harder than it needs to be!the timkin snout[or spindle]should be the same from 39 to 53.you could use the 8 bolt hubs[ugly,but done often]rare 39 ford 3/4 ton hub[wide five,brake drums held on by the wheel studs,buick drums can be machined to fit]or the most common aluminum wide five racing hub with non removable finned aluminum drum[cast in steel insert]there are even some magnesium wide five hubs with disc brake rotors still out there.be aware the first thing to break or wear out was the holes for the floater axle to bolt to.you heli-coiled them until you ran out of material and the drilled new holes between the old ones!after they became unusable as a rear hub you ran them on the right front as a safety hub[the axle holes only needed to hold a dust cover on the front]
just checked on ebay, at least 3 hubs on right now.all three are copys of the stock 39 ford 3/4 ton hub in that the wheel studs hold on whatever brake drum you use.many companys made them including Frankland,Halibrand,Safety racing,Lynns etc.also pretty sure brand new Wilwood wide five hubs would work w/the right bearings,but wouldnt be period correct with disc brakes
The first pic is a 39-41, Ford 3/4 ton rear. 39-48 passenger car backing plates will fit, however the hubs are the hard part to find. Also 37-39 pass drums will fit the floater hubs. Another thing to consider is the 12 spline carrier and axles. If you use 9" Ford axle bearing cups, having custom axles for the 12 spline will be spendy! The Halibrand rear in the roadster uses 2 of the truck housings, along with aluminum Safety Racing hubs, that fit the original 39-48 brakes. Finding some original Ford or Safety Racing hubs would be your cheapest and easiest route.
FWIW, the F-2 backing plates are what I used to convert my front axle on the roadster to run Buick drums. Not all F-2 backing plates were the modern brake system, so make sure what you get is the right stuff.
Thanks guys. a ton of information right there... or 3/4 of a ton? So it seems all Ford hubs fwill fit. just need to find nice looking ones and rims to go with the. It's not so much of what I can do or not or have done for me. I want to have the same setup as they used back then. On the drag race cars rather than the dirt track cars but I guess most of them used the same things anyway. But the smoke starts to clear now. Thanks, Magnus
I know this thread is old. I have a 1948 f3 rear end...are people still using these for quick changes? Thanks
It’s a traditional way to do it, one that I personally like the look of, but some guys don’t. My friend Terry has many of the required parts to make several. You need 2 of the short side axle housings and the original differential and r&p. PM me for his information. Not cheap to ship though, this is heavy stuff.
Boy I remember these rears. I helped Tommy Gage in the early 70's on a NE dirt modified raced at Lebanon Valley Speedway. As I remember they had 6-spline gears, not the stronger 10-spline like the Frankland rears had.
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