Rear end Question

I've got a 50 chevy deluxe and I want to make her have a better cruising speed on the highway. Can I just swap out the gears in the rear end with higher ones from something. I also want to be able to keep my 3 on the tree. It all original at the moment and only runs about 55.

 

These have the enclosed torque tube drive line. You could swap for a rear end out of a powerglide car and get a better ratio. Otherwise, your pretty much out of luck unless you change to an open drive line. Then you will have to change transmissions too.

 

55 MPH is about were they run with 4.11 like 'dgc15' said, a powerglide drop in/torq tube assy will fit in there and give you a better hwy gear...also taller tires,instead of 670-15 go up to 760-15 or 225R 15 or 235R15 in rear...bit harder on the clutch tho'...I ran 820-15 on high school car with the 411-3spd...gained about 10 MPH diff with tire change

 

50-54 cars with powerglides had 3:55 gears. This is the only "easy" option. You will get about another 10 mph.
Note that when changing gearing or tire size that the speedo is going to read incorrectly.

 

Are there 16" wheels that would fit? Mopar went from 16 to 15" wheels about that year, so both sizes will fit, not sure about Chevy. A bigger wheel would work similar to a taller rear end ratio.

 

starting in '49, the cars were the standard Chevy 5 on 4 3/4" pattern. Only 16" rims with that pattern that would fit would all be aftermarket, as far as I know.

There are websites with gear calculators that can help you determine what your rpm would be when changing gearing, etc...

 

What gear ratio do you think I have now.

 

A '50 with a standard trans will have 4.11's. 3.55 P'glide center section and driveshaft bolts right in. Makes a world of difference. Where you go 35 mph now, you'll go 41, so 55 now will be about 62 or so. The speedo will be wrong, though, it'll still be reading 55. There are little gearboxes that go on the trans, before the cable, that might have the right speed increase. S10 4X4's have them, maybe others do too.

 

How hard is a 50-53 powerglide rear end to find?

 

Shouldn't be too hard to find, about half the cars had them. Talk to anybody that's rodded them, the closed drive is usually the first thing to go. With luck, someone still has the old stuff sitting around.

 

I have a powerglide rear that I just pulled from my 51 hardtop, that I'd be willing to part with.