I picked up this 1928 Chevrolet cabriolet a few weeks back. I'm having a hell of a time figuring out what all the front end consists of. What do you guys think? I would assume that the whole front axle, spindles and brakes would be pulled from the same car but who knows? It's 5x4-1/2 bolt pattern and uses wheel bolts rather than studs which makes me think mopar? But i cant find a mopar backing plate that matches mine. what do you guys think?
Hudson also used the lug bolts instead of studs/nuts. I remember working on a '37 Hudson Terraplane years ago. My first thought looking at it was that the rear end and brake drums looked the same or nearly the same as similar vintage Mopar.
If you'd take a picture of the whole axle it would help ID the axle. Tough to say which maker it is just showing the ends at the backing plate.
Hub and drum look like Mid 30's Mopar. New-old-stock genuine MoPar front brake drum and hub assembly for all 1935-36 Plymouth (moparmall.com)
With Mr48 Chevy - drum is a Mopar - can't be sure of the axel - looks kinda like a mishmash of parts like they did back in the day. Nice rare Cabriolet there.
The axle is definitely from parallel leaf vehicle. I thought 49-54 Chevy had bolt-on steering arms? Those spindles look Ford to me, maybe 46/7 pickup? I'm not familiar with any Mopar stuff. Another possibility is mid-60's Chevy, Ford or Dodge cabover pickups and vans.
I'd have to say that someone figured out that a Mopar axle would bolt up under the Chevy without much trouble and give hydraulic brakes and act as a dropped axle in the process.
Yep Lockheed brakes, Mopars ran them for years on end (23) Vintage Mopar Lockheed Brakes. Typical Issues. - YouTube When I was in high school auto mechanics classes between 1962 and 65 My instructor for the first two years had been a mechanic in Chrysler and Dodge dealerships before he started teaching. He did have a college degree in auto mechanics though. His association with The local mopar dealer caused a lot of the older Mopars in the area to end up at the high school auto shop to be worked on and I got pretty good at working on those brakes. We also had a cutaway chassis (that I still had in the shop when I taught) that was made out of a 36 Dodge chassis complete with the drive train being belt driven with an electric motor. Students in the class a few years ago spent a lot of time cutting that rig apart including cutting pie sections out of a front and rear brake drum, cutting the head in two, cutting part of the block and the side of the pan away and doing the same with the transmission and rear end. It was real handy as a teaching aid and the physical science teacher would bring his class out to show them how a four cycle engine worked.
Yeah, I agree. The spindles are not Chevy, they did have bolt on arms. Maybe 61-63 Ford truck axle? If it is a Mopar, go here: https://board.moparts.org/ubbthread...306788/how-do-i-identify-a-straight-axle.html
Or ask ratrodcentral if he knows. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...-van-straight-axle-with-springs-sold.1029606/
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