(1956 F600)

I was going to ask on doing some leaf spring removal on my rear axle till I managed to get somethings swapped out (I have 16 per side, lol) but it dawned on me that I maybe operating under a wrongful assumption.


I have been looking to make my truck a 4x4, this was always the plan. However I have assumed that I would not be able to find a front axle that would have the same gearing as my rear axle. This of course is critical in a 4x4, otherwise half of you spins faster than the other half.

I have 5.83 for my normal, though it is a 2-speed with 8.11 that I can switch it to (I recognize I could only use the 4x4 with one of these, unless there are 2-speed front differentials but I have never heard of them, if they do exist that would be ultra cool)

So I guess my question is would it be do large truck 4x4 axles exist with a gear ratio like this (and if so does a 2-speed exist? Might not be something I'd use much but that does have a cool factor to it) and if so would it be worth the effort of finding one? And what would be the best donor?

I know some of the large trucks have been 4x4, I don't care what it comes out of as long as it works, a "newer" model might be a better choice to help upgrade the brakes.

One of the problems I can see is matching up wheels and bolt patterns. I would like to think Ford used the same for most everything around this size but I have no idea. I'd probably have to do something with the steering as well depending. And I'm sure after things like the transfer case and all thats involved I may just have to find a whole donor truck, and at that point I start to wonder if it's worth finding a large truck for a donor, it's a daily driver.

Thoughts?
Thanks.

 

The front driving axles that I am familiar with that have been used in medium trucks have ratios lower and higher than 5.83, I have not personaly seen a 5.83. But the 5.83 ratio may have been available at one time or another. You may want to check with a place that handles used and surplus truck axles.

 

Thanks

I imagine in the end I'll probably just find a good donor truck that has everything, because even if I find a front axle, I'll need a transfer case to go with it and at that point I'd probably do my powertrain as well... so...

Was just curious on it. Seemed like it be awesome if they made 2-speed front axles though, very doubtful but a cool idea...

 

my 54 ' has 5.83 gears.. it is only because I like the old stuff that I am trying to reserect it...myself... you would be happier with a new powertrain and late model gears then trying to use 50 year old parts...a couple of rockwell 2 ton axles..an a good 7.3 turbo powerstroke...that would be sweet!!!

 

I don't think there is a 5.83 front axle made by anyone and I think you're right. There are no 2 speed front axles.

You would probably have to find different front and rear axles to make it happen.

You'll just need to find "tall" enough axles to keep the gearing where you want it.

A LOT of the single speed axles were around 6.80:1 or so....... Pretty low..... (my current single speed axle is 6.80:1 Timken)

 

You also posed this question in the "Large Truck" forum, see my info typed there.

 

Not cool. Can you imagine if one axle failed to shift when the other did? I can just hear the gear carnage. IF you could find a ratio in a front axle that matches your low rear axle, you would be fine. Obviously you wouldn't want to shift into high while in 4wd, see above gear carnage.

 

Thanks for the help

lol I'm not one to shift between low and high while driving, I know it was designed to do that, but I was thinking from a 4x4 perspective that if say you got really stuck in the snow (I'm not going to be beating this truck up, but I do need to be able to use it in a Wyoming winter) that you could drop the whole thing into a much lower gear. Course getting it to work and not be an issue is a whole nother ball game. If one shifted and the other didn't you'd know pretty quick as half of you would turn a whole lot faster. Be more of a problem if it only shifted half way... lol doesn't matter, they didn't build them as far as I've been able to tell and though the idea is neat it's not enough for me to go through the effort it would take (which would be beyond a lot) to make one.... maybe, lol.


Ok, and this probably is a stupid question, but what would stop you from just using a rear differential? I mean it would be like going in reverse as far as the gearing is concerned, I can see why you couldn't use the axle, you'd need to turn for one, but... just brainstorming something I'm not going to do anyways, lol

 

My 1942 International Havester USMC front line 4wd ambulance has the same differential front and rear. The rear axle was from a 1 ton IHC pickup, made by Eaton. When building the prototype for testing by Uncle Sam, IHC had Eaton cast an axle housing for the front end that would use the same third member. Dodge did the same thing with their WW2 and M-series military trucks. This cut down on the number of parts that had to be cataloged/stocked.

I don't know that too many larger 4x4s were equipped with two speed rear axles in order to avoid someone shifting into 4wd while in high gear (rear axle).

A couple of thoughts, are you familiar with the 1 ton IHCs from the 60s and 70s? They had a large IHC corporate rear axle and a Dana 70 front end. You would have some steering issues to conquer, but you would have some stout axles and 4.89:1 ratios.

Another thought, if you want a lower range, find someone with a early 40s to early 50s Ford F5-F6 Marmon Herrington they want to get rid of. You could get the axles, and if you are lucky, it would have been a Klauer (sp?) Sno-Go snowplow. Why lucky, you ask? The snowplows had the normal transfer case, but in front of that was a deep reduction box to get the real sloooow creap gear necessary for the rotary plow to chew throught the snow without killing the IHC or Continental engine powering it.