VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Trucks and Vans Axel question

Were the 1st series 3/4 ton truck axle's cast or forged?

What I intended to ask was, Are FRONT axle's cast or forged?

First series? of 1955? where would one look to tell whether it was cast (iron) or forged (steel)?

1948 1st series. I would look for a parting line however, my axle had been ground and sanded very well by someone along the way.

Joel,
Cast iron tends to be brittle, so I doubt (hope !!) that any axle components were NOT castings. Can't imagine farmers driving over ruts & rocks in the fields with a cast iron axle. Forgings are infinitely stonger, based on my (limited) metallurgical knowledge.

I found a definitive reference to the front axle to support this in the 1937 copy of "Chevrolet Engineering Features" which states...."The front axle is a rugged I-beam forging with Reverse Elliott ends." I have not found any other references for later I-beam axles, but I seriously doubt that Chevrolet would have changed the forging method of manufacture.

My 2¢ !!

-Bob

All front axles are forged - with no exceptions.

Thanks guys for confirming what I hoped was the correct answer.

There is no such thing as a 1948 1st series truck. When you see a reference to 1948 -1955 1st series, the 1st series refers only to the early 55 trucks which shared the "Advance Design" styling with the 47-54 models. Parts which fit 47-53 trucks have no "1st series" tag on their descriptions. Parts for 55-59 trucks often carry a "2nd series" or "12 volt" tag to indicate thier suitability for ony the late 55 trucks.
Mike