I don't get it. What's a torque tube got to do with limiting speed to 70mph? ...or not using a V-8 for that matter?
Nothing....i think it's more about what gear's can be swapped in the stock housing without major mods...like changing the trans, and going open with the driveshaft and diff... At least that's what i was thinking.....could be wrong though... Aside from the tiny u-joint's, i don't think there's anything wrong with torque tubes..
i think they are only limited on the available gear ratios..and that aint saying much..its the available ratios that are keeping you at 70. and the fact that the L6 is reving to high in top gear at 70..so need better gear ratio to change this, but not available. better ratio available in newer rear ends..onward to the open drive line
I drove that car to several out of state shows with no issues ever...Hell, it was one of the most reliable cars that ran in the bunch. The issue with the u-joint/knuckle was a freak accident tho and not from being run at high rpms...However if you break one of them jounts inside the torque tube goodluck finding them & be prepared to pay...With that being said in my opinion now...These cars are like anything with the proper maintance & awareness they will treat well but to keep driving them when little things are wrong with it will only eventually snowball & could be very dangerous. The guy who purchased it was a 'purist' to sort of say & **** but who knows maybe something did get overlooked but no reason to trash a low mile runner esp cause of ever so popular mentally of it being a babbit blahblah...So why spend more uneccessary money rebuilding another motor when only the gains are nothing more than a 'laterally move' esp when the rearend was fully rebuilt along with the torque tube. But if you decide on the 'upgrade' let me know and i'll take it! So to answer your question the best thing to do is reasearch them and pick whats best for you and your use of the car...this as been repeated over and over so do a lil search on 53-54's & you should find it....Or 'rob' the driveline with a 10 bolt out of a 66-67 Chevy II & your business--o yeah--F@ck the 22's!!
I just rang a wrecking yard which has rear ends from: a 1963 bel air, 1965 impala (12 bolt), 1948 styline ute and a 1952 pontiac sedan. Anything outta those worth considering? Does anyone know the width of the 65 impala?
3.73s were the standard rear for powerglide cars and are sometimes available without too much searching. I've never seen a 3.55 rear in a 53 or 54 car but that doesn't mean they don't exist. They were available in the trucks but that was a different rearend. One major drawback of the stock rear is the carrier bearings. While they look like tapered rollers they are actually barrel shaped that allows the carrier to move in the housing like it was mounted in a pillow block. When I rebuilt the rear in my 54, I went through it and another rear for parts and both center sections had runout of more than .050 which would have caused roller bearings to bind up, while the barrel shaped bearings allowed the center to rotate with no problem. I did talk to a couple vintage bearing suppliers and they knew exactly what I needed but no one had seen any of those bearings for years. The pinion bearing is still available. The Patrick's kit lists a front and rear pinion bearing when the 54 pinion runs a single bearing (with 2 rows of balls), and their carrier bearings are taper bearings which will work if your carrier doesn't have the runout I've seen on 54 rears. A newer open drive rear is a much easier way to go with these older cars. If you look at Patrick's, they offer 3.55s for pickups. When I called them and tried to order gears for my car they didn't have car sets, just pickup sets.
Oh ok. So the ***tle of the thread should read: "Banjo rear axles and the Highway". I happen to know if you can turn the rpm, they'll go quite faster than 70mph ...for a long time.
Thats right..but you forgot something..the L6 engine..its taxed out (or very near)on RPM with the standard geared rearend..
O.K. let me get this straight...with my 235 and stock 3spd, and stock 411s in the torque tube rearend I'll top out at about 60-65 mph and 3000 rpm and if I change to a 3.55 rearend I'll topout at 60-65 mph 2500rpm?
Sorry, I thought this thread was only talking about the speed capibility of the banjo rear axle. I ran a banjo in a Hemi powered Coupe with an overdrive trans for a few years ...hard and fast. I'll shut up now...
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