Front axle Ident help

[Keeper]

Okay I am about to start picking up parts for the front end, but I am confuzzeled as to which front axle I have.

I am pretty sure its a Chevy axle as it had chev spindles on it when I got it.

Pin to Pin is - 50 1/2
Perch is - 40 3/4
Perches are 2 1/4 tall

Codes stamped - 21a 3010 on each end of the axle

It has two shock mount holes in the middle 30 inches apart, though I am not sure they are original. It also has a continuous curve the entire length.

I have looked around for info on the early chev axles and everything just points me to new axle makers.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Baby Huey]

Chebby Spindles can be made to fit bout anything either by modifying the axle boss or the spindles.
Your axle could be anything from a Dodge to a Furd to a Chebby....
How bout a picture or two ?
I have an old Chev Front Axle and spindles, think mine is 20's or 30's vintage....Pretty Wimpy....
Hang in there, keep collecting stuff.... "BH"

 

[Keeper]

Sure do. Sorry about the size!

and

 

[butch27]

I thought early Chevys had parralel leaf springs on front. That's why you couldn't lower them. I think thats a Ford axle and some hotrodder put '54 Chevy spindles on it.

 

[Keeper]

That is what I thought as well. But none of the measurements match the fords.

 

[donsrods]

I can tell you with certainty that is a Ford axle. You can take that to the bank. Chevy axles never had perch holes. The 21A prefix is consistent with Ford numbering systems also.

From looking at your axle and the pictures I am posting, it appears your axle is a '42-47 that someone has modified by adding holes to mount hydraulic shocks.

Let us see the spindles so we can be sure they are really Chevy. It is possible to add them, but I'm not sure that is what you really have. One problem with these axles is that the spring perch holes are farther out than earlier axles, making it tough to get a spring to fit for something like a T bucket. The spring on these is very wide. Also, the wishbones end up very close to the wheels, shortening the amount of room you can turn your wheels without hitting them.

Don

 

[Keeper]

Thanks. - I did notice that the perches were pretty far apart compared to the front spring that came with the car.

The spindles are currently at the machine shop getting cleaned up. I do know that they are chev spindles as they have the 4 "tabs" where they mount and are not round like the fords. I may have a pic of them around though.

 

[Keeper]

not the greatest of pics but here is the only one I have of the spindles.

 

[donsrods]

Here, these are Chevy spindles, do they look like these? Reason I ask is because '42-48 Ford spindles are square, not round like '37-41.

Don

 

[Youngster]

Don's right . You have a '42 to '48 axle. There were two axles used in '48. If you ordered your car with hydraulic brakes, you got the axle with an extra hole in it for the lower shock mount. If you wanted the lever type hydraulic shocks you got an axle like the one you have. By mid-'48 the tube type shocks were all that was offered.

You are going to run into tire clearance problems with your axle. It will also be hard to find a spring to work with it. But the biggest problem is going to be the camber. The Chevy spindles have a different camber than the Ford. This can be corrected by bending the axle between the king pin boss and the wishbone boss. You will also have to have king pin bushings made as there are none that I know of ready made. In short, this is the long way around the barn. I would recommend looking for a stock '37-'40 complete front end to rework if you want the old Ford look up front.

In the early '70's, Joe Mayall did an article on this conversion. It looked simple so I tried it with a dropped Model A axle. Let me tell you, it was any thing but simple. By the time I had all the problems worked out, I could have had a nice front end with a dropped axle and hair pins. The wheel bearings along would have paid fro the hairpins.

Ron

 

[donsrods]

Yep, sure look like Chevy spindles, '49-54. What someone evidently did was enlarge the kingpin hole in the axle to the Chevy size (Chevy is .876, Ford is .813) The one thing that is an unknown is if they also did something to the axle to bend it to the Chevy camber specs. I think the Ford axle has something like an 80 inclination and the Chevys are something like 40, so your wheels will tuck under differently than they should. Don't hold me to that, as am doing it from memory.

I really hate to use components other people have modified, because you never know exactly what they did or how well.

Don

 

[Youngster]

If they didn't rebore the axle, they used the Ford king pins and made up bushings for the Chevy spindles.

Ron

 

[donsrods]

Hehe Ron, I see you and I were typing pretty much the same info at the same time. Great minds.....................:lol:

I know some guys can modify anything to work with anything else, but I am not that talented. I just stick with tried and true parts that match up and that I can get common replacement parts for.

Don

 

[Keeper]

Yes they were re-bored to use the bigger king-pins. The machine shop mic'd them to make sure. I had a feeling I was going to run into issues with this thing. But when all the parts were piled into the truck I didn't measure everything out.

I may just purchase a whole new front setup since the only thing I really have is the i-beam and the spindles. There is a spring mounted on the perch but its pretty narrow compared to the axle.

Who is a good supplier for front ends?

Oh and yes those look just like the spindles I have. I just went and used some calipers on the pin holes and they come out to .867 (this is not the most accurate digi mic made....) both sides were the same maybe that was why I had to have the pins pressed out of the axles.

 

[Youngster]

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to discourage you but there are better ways to do this. As Don said you don't know what they did or how good they did it. It's been my experience that these short cut always seem to cost more $$ than if I would have done it right in the first place.

I know if you're looking at a complete '40 front end and the guy wants $300 for it, you're thinking that a lot of money. But if you stop and add up the individual parts, it dosen't take long before you pass that $300 mark (Thanks E-bay!).

With the swap meet season here , you should be able to find what you need pretty easy. If you see someone that has a lot of suspension parts, ask if he knows anyone who has what you're looking for. Some of my best buys were made on the way home from the swap meet.

Ron

 

[Keeper]

No worries on being discouraged, I know its all part of the fun of building. Just have to look a little more to find what I need. I can always swap this one

We don't seem to have to many swap meets up here. Usually one huge on at the beginning of the summer.

Well on the plus side of things. I did find an great set of chev spindles and some bucket windshield posts for a good price.

I will probably buy a complete tube axle setup from somewhere. Hopefully somewhere local to avoid the border "brokerage" fees!!!

 

[Youngster]

Keeper check out this site.;

Street Rod Parts Kits Ready to be Welded - Welder Series

Lots of good stuff there for you guys in Canada. There are some links that would be worth checking out too. There's even one on titling in Ontario.

Ron

 

[Keeper]

Yeah those guys are about an hour from me. I have their catalog but most of their stuff seemed to be for Model A's though they did have select parts for the T.