rear end 1949 commander

[hotrodstude]

how much trouble is it to swap in a later model rear end in the 3-passenger biz coupe??? dana or ford 8 or 9 inch will work???has a banjo rear now.spicer or dana???

2006,f-150,2x4,v-6,5-speed manual,8ft bed, will post stude info when i get it on the road.

[rickhmn]

I put a Ford 8.8 from an explorer in my 62 lark. The width was almost perfect and it was easy to put in. Offset was to the same side and close to the same as my Dana The Ford 8.8 is a copy of the chevy 12 bolt and if you get the explorer rear it has 31 spline axles. 95 and up is disc brake. I paid 200 for a good axle with all the rear sway bar stuff. 3.73 gears and posi. drum brakes.

[buddymander]

Was the explorer the same width? Did you move the springpads? I hear a lot about rear end swaps but few details. Also, which u-bolts and springplates did you use?

[Carl Purdy]

That Lark rearend is a lot wider than a 1949 Bus. coupe.


7G-Q1 49 2R12 10G-F5 56B-D4 56B-F2

[brngarage]

For what it's worth, a friend of mine has a '51 Champion Starlight coupe which is powered by a 289 Ford engine (and C4 transmission). He has a '73 Comet rear end in it (he bought the car this way). If it will help, I'll gladly measure the distance between spring perches (and any other dimensions that might be helpful).


Howard
53 Commander Starliner
56 Sky Hawk

Edited for spelling.

[hotrodstude]

yes that would be great,thanks alot. the comet rear a 8 inch????

2006,f-150,2x4,v-6,5-speed manual,8ft bed, will post stude info when i get it on the road.

[brngarage]

I'll try to get what info I can this weekend and post it as soon as I find out.

Howard
53 Commander Starliner
56 Sky Hawk

[rickhmn]

on my 8.8 swap the explorer rear was about 1/2" wider than the lark rear. Yes the spring pads had to be moved in about 1 1/2" on each side. Getting my tires out that 1/4" on a side helped the look. I used preches from a local spring shop. They sell them for trailers etc. The leaves were the same width from the explorer to the lark so I was able to use the explorer u bolts and plates. The whole deal is not rocket science. Just slide the rear under and make sure it's centered by measuring of a frame point, measure twice and weld once. On pinion angle just google it and read a couple articles and its pretty easy to figure out. I stressed about it some till I looked at the angles that some of the lifted trucks run!! Once pinion angle was set I doubled checked the centering and then tacked it on each corner of the perch and took it out to weld. Whole deal was done in four or five hours over a couple of days. My car has not yet been on the road but I have had some good assistance and advice from a friend who is a pro builder along the way. He checked it out and thought it all looked really good. Unless you are looking at really low horsepower or want to rebuild the axle I'd steer clear of the ford 8. The Ranger has a narrower 8.8 and the astro uses the same one. They are 28 spline axle unless you find a ranger FX4 but it's still way stronger than an 8. Bigger brakes too.

[tim87114]

Posted - 12/01/2008 : 2:41:45 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FROM MY PREVIOUS POST. NOTE: This is on a 1949 Champion.
FYI,
I have found that the mid 90's ford explorers Axle with rear disc brakes will bolt up to the Champion. It too is underhung as the stude.
The rear leaf perches are at 39.5" on center. The width is 1.75 wider than the stock stude axle but you can make that up in backspacing, but you don't have to.
NOTE: The emergency brake cable connection is different. You can loop your cable around the ford hook and use a simple Cable clamp to secure, or you can buy a Jeep to ford axle swap kit which will give you the correct ends. As you would expect the u-joint is different so modifications will be needed. The pinion is offset 2.75 inches which is 2" further than the stude. however because the length of the driveline, this does not pose any issues. I have not checked the measurements of the Drum brake style axle for the wheel flange to flange measurements.

[tim87114]

Also, what is your plan on the front? Isn't your car a 4 lug? Are you going to just re-drill your stude hubs to 5 lug or are you going to use Mustang hubs? The V8 Mustangs from the 60's used the same type of setup as the champion/commander with the drum held on by the studs pressed through the hub. Basically any mustang conversion, like granada ect will go onto the studebaker spindle.

I discovered this last weekend while working on a neighbors 67 v8 drums. I put my studebaker hub right onto the mustang spindle. The bearing ID's are the same but the OD's are different. Also the Mustang bearing area is slightly shorter by about a 1/2" This just means that you would put the mustang hub on and use a thicker castle nut to make up that difference. Or you could put granada rotor ect on. Personally I'm partial to the whole hub thing because I don't like having to repack bearings when I'm changing Rotors, but then again at least you know you have new grease every so often [}]

[buddymander]

I've been wondering which disc brake rotor will bolt on to the studebaker spindle. I was thinking about designing a kit to adapt ball joints to the studebaker lower aframe and changing the upper to something adjustable to get to ball joints plus disc brakes in one fell swoop.

[hotrodstude]

SORRY ITS A COMMANDER.245/3-speed

2006,f-150,2x4,v-6,5-speed manual,8ft bed, will post stude info when i get it on the road.

[brngarage]

Sorry it took so long, but I wasn't able to contact my friend with the Comet rear assembly in the '51 Champion Starlight until yesterday. He measured last night and told me the distance between the inside edges of the rear leaves is 38". He sent me some pictures. If anyone would like to see the pictures, please email me off forum.



Howard
53 Commander Starliner
56 Sky Hawk

[tim87114]

For Buddy.
Yea, me too. I've got a set of AFCO arms and was considering grafting them as well. But actually I too thought about simply cutting the end of the stock lower a-arm off then welding on a flat plate to bolt a lower balljoint to. This is common on new cars. The upper arm can be easily made as well.

I pulled out some Dirt Track Racing arms I had laying around which use the ford upper ball joint and it would fit right into that spot. So I'm going to take some measurements and hit the U-pullit to take some measurements off some vehicles to see what if any will have the width and length of the stock upper arm. The lower I agree can be modified.

[tim87114]

Buddy,

From a front disc brake standpoint. On the 4 lug car, I converted to disc all the way around by using a Kia spectra front rotors and saturn rear rotors. Both hubs were re-drilled. But now that I know the Mustang Hub will fit that opens up the door for bolt on 5 lug.

I was sticking with the 4 lug because the Scion XB stock wheels are steel and 15x7 so they would look near stock once the hub cap tabs are welded to the wheels. I would also get disc brakes front and rear. I have the rear brackets completed and only need to cut out the front brackets and weld on a slight offset of 3/4" for the mounting location.

Here is the rear with saturn rotor and caliper: Notice it's e-brake bracket is a simple connect for the stock stude cable. Basically the caliper bracket takes place of the bearing keeper plate shown in the picture.



Here is the front rotor mocked up. Now that I have the hub re-drilled and studs installed, I need to update the photo. Note this is a 10.5" rotor, but the inside Hat area is very large and the Kia was the only one I could find that would fit in a 4 lug car.