I have been told that 49 - 54 Chevy car spindles can be used on 55 - 59 Chevy truck straight axles. In order to make them a 5 bolt. True? I looked at my 54 and it does look like the backing plate mounts the same way and I know that the bearings are the same cause I have a set on my car I robbed off a truck. Anybody done it?
A buddy of mine runs a '55 truck & has used the original spindles but fitted car drums/bearings of that era, if i remember correctly he said they went straight on & used the truck backplates & shoes too.....giving you a nice easy route to 4-3/4 5 stud. hope someone else can confirm this for you as its a little late here right now, otherwise i'd phone & ask him.
didi the same thing on my 50 truck. had to change the backing plate to self energizing but the 51 up trucks have the proper backing plates. all that is needed to do the swap is the 54 car hubs and drums. jerry
I did this on a '41 Chevy pickup using '50 - '52 car brakes. I used the car backing plates, and had to drill some new holes, and build some spacers to make it all fit right. I've seen the same game played using Buick or Olds brakes instead of Chevy, but I don't recall details. My '55 GMC has '73 Chevelle disks on the original axle and though a bit more involved, it wasn't a real big deal either....
Check out Tex Smith's book "How to Build Chevy Hot Rods". He put the car backing plates & hubs onto the truck spindles. I can fax you a copy of the article if you'd like. Ed
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