Rear Axle: 50 Champion rear axel swap

[doubledaddy]

I would like to swap my 4 lugs for 5 lugs. Question, can I put 51-52 Champion axel shafts in the 50 housing or will I have to swap the complete rear axel? I have 2 50, 1 51 and 1 52 rear axels to chose from but the springs are not the same width. I could get around that if need be. Thanks

doubledaddy

[RadioRoy]

The basic idea is that, from 51 and up, you can swap all sorts of things around, but 47-50 are different beasts.

There is some information and some mis-information on this thread.

http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/showthread.php?77446-1950-Champion-hubs

If you want 5 lug hubs/drums on the front, you need special bushings.

If you want 5 lug hubs/drums on the rear the axles will have to be changed, but I do not know if the axles will fit into the 50 rear end. It may be better to change the entire rear end, but be aware of the axle ratios.

There is also some information on this thread.

http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/showthread.php?77296-rear-axle-info

You can also search different titles and find out a lot of what people have been saying by using the search function.

[doubledaddy]

Thanks Radioroy, I think I will just swap the entire thing. I have both the 51 and 52 sitting in the garage and the 50 is just sitting in the car, not hooked up. Only thing I was trying to avoid was cleaning and painting another rear axel. The 50 has been finished. Not that big a job.

Doubledaddy

[studepack]

You could also go to a later model and get limited slip and drum or disc brakes. I've put the Ford explorer read end under several Studebakers. They're plenty of them out there. Most tend to be 3.73 in both open and limited slip. They did have a 4.10 rear end in open and limited slip but that one is harder to find. They used a cable operated park brake (small brake shoes inside the rear rotor).

[1962larksedan]

You could also go to a later model and get limited slip and drum or disc brakes. I've put the Ford explorer read end under several Studebakers. They're plenty of them out there. Most tend to be 3.73 in both open and limited slip. They did have a 4.10 rear end in open and limited slip but that one is harder to find. They used a cable operated park brake (small brake shoes inside the rear rotor).

3:73's would work well with relatively short tires.

[doubledaddy]

Thanks all. I think I will use the 52. It's the same ratio, 4.56 and the wider spring mount can be fixed with some home fabricated spacers.

Doubledaddy