axle tube swapping from year to year

[hot rust]

hello everyone. i have a question on what will work and what won't. what i have is a 40 rear axle assy with 354 gears which i am wanting to use. i also have a pair of 36 bells and wishbones to use also. my question can i use these on the 40 rear and whats involved in doing so? i also have a 47 truck rear with open driveline i would like to swap this set up out also to make the 40 a open drive, am i fighting a losing battle or is this actually feasable to do. thanks for all the help hot rust

[Karl Wolf]

I have done this. Put the 1936 carrier bearings on the 1947 carrier in the 1947 center section... I did this with a 1946 center and carrier and 35-36 tubes, used 1946 brakes and drums... The gaskets set the backlash, the set up was normal...

If you want the gasket thicknesses I used, let me know, I write all this stuff down.
Karl

[hot rust]

actually karl i want to use the 40 center section and install everything else to it. thanks hot rust

[flatheadA]

hot rust,you have to watch your axle gears,some are 16 teeth some are 18 teeth.

[Mart]

I'm not an expert, but this is what I think is right. You can't use the truck parts if you want to use the 3.54 gears. The gears are for closed drive. The truck gears are for open drive.

There is nothing to stop you using the 3.54 closed drive gearset and then using a conversion kit to convert to open drive. If you want to use the truck axle bells, you would need to swap the shafts and maybe the spiders into the diff and assemble it all up to the 40 centre section. The 47 stuff is a bit wider, so the shafts are longer.

You should be able to come up with a workable setup using the parts you mention.

Mart.

[Mike in AZ]

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Hot Rod Works in Idaho sells a kit to convert to open drive....and there have been previous posts on what to do to replace the rigidity you will lose with the loss of the torque tube...good luck....Mike