Does anyone know the stock gear ratio to a 46 Fleetline ? Is there another rear axle you can use that has a different ratio and still has 6 lugs ? I don't like driving my car at 50-60 miles an hour and my engine revving up to max rpm's It gets hot to quickly and I dont get a chance to enjoy driving it. What about the early to mid 50's 3100 chevy truck ? Can I just swap out my gears with something else on my closed rear end ? I know alot of swaps are done useing gm or ford rear ends, But what about a nissan pick up ? It is the same 6 lug pattern as my fleetline ? Is there a reason these are not used ? My speedometer does not work so I cant tell you exactly how fast im going, but im guessing 55 because I go the same speed as the big rigs on the freeway. Please help me keep my ride running cool. Thanks in advance
closed drive line....so if you do a trans swap, you'll also have to do a rearend swap. Trucks usually had just as steep of gears as you have now, imports too. The later Chevy trucks from the mid 70s to early 80s often had good highway gears, the 4x4s were 6 lug, but the rearend was a bit wider, so probably wont fit. You're getting to that point where you need to figure out what's important, and if you decide to go with a more modern rearend/trans you might as well use different front brakes/hubs and go to 5 lug. Lotsa work, but might be worth it.
I have a 235 straight six out of a 58 chevy car. If I use a 50's or 60's 3 on the tree tranny will this be an easy swap ? Will everything bolt up the same ? What mods will be needed ? If it's not to hard of a swap, im sure I can find a rear end.
Your Fleetline came with 4.11s. 3.70s from a '53-4 standard shift car or 3.55s from a '50-'54 PG car will swap into your rear end.
Hey Heathen, I think I just bought a reverse light off of you on ebay !! heathen1960 ? Small world. Im going to go with a 50-54 PG. Thanks for the info.
Imagine that it is not a small task to swap out rear gears on those. I had a Merc with an overdrive 3 speed trans and it worked good on the highway. '40 Chevies have a overdrive?
Dig a little deeper.....Someone, seems it was a WEST Coaster was making a Ring &Pinion for those cars, that gave you interstate speed.
Did an online search for: 1946 Chevy Rearend Gears. Came up with a few different sites. One mentioned Patrick's rearend conversion. Try: patricksantiquecars.com or just do a search for Paricks Rearend Gears. Your Chevy looks really cool.
I was told that I can use a 50-54 power glide rear end and just install the torque tube and gears into my original housing and keep my 6 lug axles. This guy did it on his 48 Buick and did it all in his garage with no special tools like a caliper gauge. He posted up all his pics and it looked pretty straight forward. Am I missing something here ?
I am not sure about the gear swap on the p/g to your 6 lug axle but I can tell you this. they started making 3 spd overdrive trannys in 55 up untill the early 60's 62 is the latest I have seen. (they may have made them later but I have not seen them) if you have a 55 to 62 car bell housing or a 48 to 62 truck bell housing then any 55 up 3spd or 4 spd will bolt to that bell housing. I swapped a 3spd with the borg warner overdrive into my 54 car so I could keep it 3 on the tree. pretty much most the overdrives in the 50's were made by borg warner. which is cool because it makes o/d parts a little easier to find. point is you could use that nissan rear if you wanted and use the o/d transmission and have endless top end. with the o/d trans you have essentially 6 gears, 1st low/high 2nd low/high 3rd low/high. hope this helps. also the trannys normally go for $350 and up. if the trans is toast and you can get the o/d for a deacent price I am almost sure that you can swap it out with the stock tailshaft housing?
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