Torque tube rear end? Small bolt pattern bell housing? T-5 has 14 spline pilot shaft stock 10 spline . You need truck bell housing Vega style clutch disk exposed drive shaft rear end. plus labor weld mounts ... How 'bout find a rear out of an auto tranny car. You get a 3.43 to replace the 4.10. They're only orig.once. Check out stovebolt.com T-5 tech.
I was thinking of doing the same thing I have a 1939 Chevy get a copy of STREET RODDER MAG Januray 2011 and there is a company named Hot Rod Works phone#208-463-1068 also www.hotrodworks.com they did it page 132 I hope this helps
Not even hotrodworks has designed or manufactured a way to do what you want with the T5 and keep the original (torque-tube) rear end. Patrick Dykes sells a kit to modify a Saginaw 4-speed to replace the 3- or 4-speed in a Chevy truck with torque-tube. It seems to me that in 57 years somebody would have designed a procedure to cut and modify the torque-tube close to the differential with bearings/bushings, seals and a yoke and convert it to open drive...?
There is an article in the January 2011 StreetRodder that covers this exact thing using items from the Hot Rod Works (just happen to have been looking thru it earlier today). Maybe check out both websites and you can find info. Seems pretty straight forward. No torque tube tho.
No such animal from GM until '55..........though there was a post on the HAMB recently that showed an aftermarket OD for torque tube chevys, but it is made of "unobtainium" Rat
That would only be part of the solution to converting to opendrive. The second part would be to replace the spring pads on the axle hosuing, as the torque tube models have pivots on the spring pads.....after all that work and expense, it is easier and cheaper to just change the whole rear axle assembly to an open drive model. There is nothing about the original rear ends to recommend their retention. Ray
Theres a feller on this board that makes adapters for the 4x4 version of the T5 to go to the torque tube rear. Sorry I dont have the name or the link, but I seen it just days ago by searching T5. Its a really nice setup, very well built and nice looking.
Thanks Ray. I never worked on a 49-54 car, or Chevy truck with torque-tube for that matter so I was unaware of the pivots. All my A.D. trucks were 3/4-tons with open drive rear axles. But it's good to learn something everyday. I'm thinking about a 49-52 car for my next project....
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