Help with studebaker axle

[phil cottingham]

The Studebaker pickup that I plan to use for my Rat Rod project has a straight axle with drum brakes and brake parts missing. the El Camino that is my donor vehicle has good disc brakes. I was wandering if there is any way to swap the Chevy disc brakes to the Studebaker axle. I figure if it has been done or can be done some of you guys will know. Thanks for any help. By the way I now have the Studebaker and the donor El Camino sitting side by side in front of my shop. Got to make space to get stuff inside. Thanks ,Phil

 

[Yankee Transplant]

if it was a chevy or ford Id say they have an adapter ... but I dont think they will have it for the stud .... find out what size king pin it takes and look at the king pin size for the chevy and ford if one or the other is the same size you may be in luck . JMO

 

[dmw56]

For Studebaker "I-Beam" axles.
http://www.turnerbrake.com/truckkits.html

 

[Yankee Transplant]

There ya go [cl[cl

 

[earthman]

God bless the internet!

 

[Old Iron]

Googled again

 

[phil cottingham]

help with studebaker axle

Thanks guys, that's just what I needed. Now will anybody loan me $200.00? haha. No just kidding. Thanks, Phil

 

[Willowbilly3]

I find those kits generally over priced for what you get. I've done several with just some good old ingenuity. Get the cheap caliper bracket from speedway or any roundy round car supplier, about $10 each. You can get them for metric or big GM calipers. Then add metal, modify to bolt to your spindle. Find a set of metric (S10, Montycarlo) rotors, or bigger impala or C10 pickup rotors, do the math and get the right bearings or seals to fit them to your spindles. Sometimes you will have to have a spacer machined if the skene (sp?) length is too much different. Even with new calipers and hoses, used rotors, this is easily within a $200 budget.

 

[phil cottingham]

studebaker axle

Thanks Billy, what I would like to do is use the calipers and everything off the El Camino donor. I was trying to use everything that I could that I already have. I plan to use the rear end and the brakes on it. I also want to try to use the master cylinder and brake pedal. I'm usually a pretty good rigger but this is my first attempt at changing brakes from one brand to another. Thanks again, Phil

 

[phil cottingham]

I've been gathering parts and doing a lot of figuring but I'm ready to get started on my build. I will start a build thread soon and try to post pictures. I've gotten a lot of good info from all the post on here.I still have lots of questions that will come as I proceed. I was planning on doing a suicide frontend using split wishbone type radius rods on my studebaker axle but when I started mocking things up today I ran into a problem. It looks like the cross over steering won't work with the wishbone radius rods. I'm sure i'm not the first to run in to this. I really didn't want to use hairpins but I may have to. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[phil cottingham]

bump

 

[phil cottingham]

I finally got started on my project after months of dealing with others things. Would a chevy pickup straight front axle be easier to adapt to my El Camino brakes and hubs than the Studebaker axle? I can get a 57 chevy axle cheap. Also I have thought about using rack and pinion for steering but am confused about which ones will work. I know there is a difference in one that mounts in front or rear of the axle. I don't want to have to turn left to go right. I want the rack and pinion to be behind the axle. Any thoughts on what to look for at the junk yard. I'm going to get pictures as soon as I can get my wife to help. I'm a lot lower tech that most of you guys. I use a flip phone. Thanks for any help you can give.

 

[phil cottingham]

bump

 

[bob w]

I'd use the Chevy axle with the brakes that are on it. Or else, get a disc brake kit for it. You would need a rear steer rack such as a Dodge Omni. A Mustang box works good for cross steering and can be found on eBay for a good price. BED works with this stuff all the time and can give you better information. PM him.

 

[Bamamav]

Cavalier rack might be a good choice, too. Mount it to the frame, then tie rods to the spindles. Might have to extend the center portion where the tie rods mount with a piece of plate to get it low enough.

 

[phil cottingham]

Thanks for the reply. What year dodge Omni or Cavalier would I need to look for. I've never dealt with either one. The reason for wanting to change the brakes was to keep the wheel bolt pattern the same as my rear end. The rack and pinion looked good because of eliminating parts and bad angles on steering stuff. Still studying on it. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[Bamamav]

Phil, if you bolt a rack to your I beam axle, you are going to have to have some kind of slip joint in the shaft to allow for axle movement. It has been done before, just giving you an idea on it. that is why I suggested the Cavalier rack, it bolts to the firewall in it's natural environment, so bolting it to the frame works just as well, and you eliminate the need for the slip joint.

I wish I had of went that way with mine, the Saginaw box takes a lot of room. I ended up having to get a set of Explorer manifolds to clear the box on mine.

I would say in the 2000's for year on the Caviler rack. Omni is 90's I think.

 

[Dr Crankenstein]

Pros and cons.

A rack attached to the frame will suffer some bump steer when used with a solid axle... as the axle moves up and down, toe will move in and out.

A rack attached to the axle suffers no bump steer or change in toe (excessive articulation excluded) , but requires a proper slip joint as mentioned.

.

 

[phil cottingham]

Thanks for the info guys. I'm just trying to weigh all the pros and cons. I may make a trip to pull-a-part in Mobile and see what they have. I have all the steering parts off the El Camino that might could be made to work. Next week I'm going to put everything back together after having it apart for welding. I'll be able tell how things look better then. Thanks again.

 

[Bamamav]

Pros and cons.

A rack attached to the frame will suffer some bump steer when used with a solid axle... as the axle moves up and down, toe will move in and out.

A rack attached to the axle suffers no bump steer or change in toe (excessive articulation excluded) , but requires a proper slip joint as mentioned.

.

I would agree on a rack where the tie rods are on the ends, but the Cavalier is a center steer, the tie rods are attached in the center of the rack. The tie rods will have a longer arc, so any bump steer should be very minimal or none at all. It shouldn't be any different on a i beam than on a IFS, the longer arc should prevent bump steer. As long as the tie rods are parallel to the ground and level, I think it would work fine on a I beam axle. that's the beauty of the center hung tie rods, you extend the center mounting points down until they are level, yet you don't lose any travel side to side.

Is that about as clear as mud? It makes sense the way it was described to me.