VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1946-1948 Torque tube Questions

I want to swap out my '47 torque tube assembly with a '53 powerglide torque tube assembly gears and all. What manuals can I get to help with this?

I don't want to miss any details.

The 1947 shop manual would be all you will need for the swap.
Things you will need to study. . How to pull the axle shafts (just slide them out several inches, full removal is not necessary if you are not replacing the axle seals), Disconnecting the U joint (support torque tube so it dosen't fall down on you). Lower torque tibe slowly. Unbolt the torque tube and center carrier form the rear axle banjo housing and pull fprward. The "gears" and all will pull right out as a unit.

Gene, do you know if the rear axle is the same for the passenger car and the 1/2-ton in the Advance Design years? And if not is the dissasembly procedure the same for both of them?
It's been almost 50 years since I've been under a passenger car of this era. However, I have been spending a lot of time the last few years under the AD trucks.
Tks
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

The car and 1/2 ton truck are bascially the ame except the 1/2 ton truck parts are slightly larger (more heavy-duty). Most bearings interchange but not gears.

Thanks Gene, that's pretty much what I figured other wise everyone would be looking for gears out of the passenger cars to replace their 4.10 in stead of flocking to Patrick's. I was just curious whether there were any similarities between them or interchangeability of maybe the housings, backing plates and torque tubes, u-joints, etc. I’m aware of course that the early AD’s had Huck brakes.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Denny, that brings up a question that I had. Will the 3 speed transmission also need to be swapped if you try to put the entire 53 powerglide rearend and torque tube into a 52 1/2 ton Chevy truck? I already have a 54 truck 235 engine and clutch and a 54 3 speed automobile transmission in the car that I will be robbing the complete driveline out of I am changeing the 53 driveline completely to a low mileage 54 standard transmission set that I came across. Will the bell joint from a powerglide and a bell joint from a 3 speed car innerchange on the torque tube? The 52 truck that I have in mind is located a couple of hours away.
maybe I didn't make the swap clear enough. I want to put a 1953 powerglide rear end, brakes and all and a 53 three speed transmission into a truck with no driveline, it just has a 54 235 truck engine and truck clutch in it now. I will need to use the springs from a car also.

I'm sure you weren't aiming that question at me Mack, you know that's way out of my league, hope Gene can answer your question.
Denny G

The passenger car transmission will not bolt up to a truck bell housing.
The 1953-54 car main shaft is 5/8" longer than a truck main shaft.
The car torque tube and carrier is 59 1/2 " long, the truck is 62 9/16" long.
The car carrier wll not bolt up to a truck banjo housing.
The car banjo housing is narrower than a truck's.
The U joint, ball, etc, can be matched up.

Great info Gene, as usual I really appreciate the time your take and thanks a bunch. I'll add that to the file for sure.
Hope you have a great 2010,
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Thanks Gene! That is what I needed!

Thanks for the input. Great info.

Will these changes affect speedometer or odometer accuracy?

With the 3.55 PG ratio the speedometer and odometer will be 15 % slow. You can figure this out on the speedometer or purchase an adaptor the will correct the readings. They run about $70.00 but are very simple to install.

How far do I have to take the u-joint apart to be able to drop the torque tube? I've been refering to the shop manual and all the help from you guys, but I can't get enough clearance to lower the torque tube. Right now I removed the 4 bolts from the u-joint and removed the two bearings those bolts hold in place.
The center carrier is unbolted and ready for removal.

If the 4 bolts are removed you can slide the rear half of the U joint back into the torque enough to allow the torque to drop down. The center carrier must not be puled out at all at this point as it "closes" the space between the two halves of the U joint.

Remove the emergency brake bracket and actuating rod.
Loosen the friction ring (screws onto the rear of the ball joint behind the transmission), THEN remove the 4 bolts that hold the ball joint to the rear of the transmission..Clean the small part of the torque tube, and slide the rear ball joint back on the torque tube as far as it will go. Now you have access to the Universal joint, part ift by removeing the small trunnion screws, then the torque tube can be dropped down to be removed from the rearend case. If you don't know how to do this job, study the shop manual and the directions for removal of the torque tube.

One thing not mentioned when dropping torque tube, and that is that drive shaft has to be turned a certain way to clear the tranny cross member. That cross member has a half moon cutout on bottom plate of cross member to clear the u-joint after it has been unbolted and slid backward. You will have to jack up rear end to rotate drive shaft.

Just a thought.

Jim.

Thanks Mr Mack and Chev Nut, I have tried all you're instructions along with the shop manual handy. I can't get it out. As for jdv123 I haven't been able to get the tube low enough to worry about the cross-member yet. I was wondering if the angle of the car on jacks is making a difference? Right now I have the car level or maybe the front end higher than the rear. I appreciate the input from you guys, I might have to look into another plan if I can't get it out after another shot at it shortly.

Support the rear end of the car by the frame and let the differential hang down. This gives you a few inches of clearance.

That's the way I've had it all along, I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong?

This is the way I did it.

Jack up rear of car with jack under differential.

Put one jack stand under each axle housing spaced out toward wheels.

Lower jack under differential and remove.

Now, make SURE you have hydraulic jack avail because when you take torque tube down, it will want to fall to floor!! Put jack under torque tube to hold it from falling, as it is heavy with weight pulling it down.

Make sense?? I am not exactly a weakling, but gurantee you, that sucker is heavy, wanting to twist downward.

Best to you, and be careful!!

Jim.

I failed to tell you that I had rear wheels about 4 to 6 inches off floor as that gave me extra room under car to work.

Also use catch pan under u joint area to catch grease coming out of that area as you lower torque tube assy.

Sorry.

Jim.

Alright guys, I tried a little bit more then took the extra steps to remove the rearend completely. It may sound excessive but I figured if it's this problematic coming out it's going to be worse going in. So I figured it might make things easier during the install... we'll see! Thanks again for all the input.

I ordered a "torque tube ball seal kit" from chevs of the 40's and the kit had 4 exactly the same gaskets. It's the gasket between the tranny and the outer housing, the flat gasket with the four bolt holes in it. What's the reason for 4 of them?