5 ton axles on a deuce?

Hello, I have a connection to get a set of 5 ton axles (3) along with 6 alcoa wheels and tires like the ones on cement mixers all for free. Its all spare parts from my buddies sand and gravel company. I would love to do the swap but am wondering if its worth the trouble. I would probably have to get all 5 ton suspension in order to bolt it up. They had the complete 5 ton up until a year ago then pulled the transfer case,tranny and axles and smashed the rest with their volvo 330 loader (big). Has any one looked into this type of swap yet? Any input would be greatly appreciated. Sounds like a back busting job but the wheels would look awesome on it. I think they have a mack engine laying around too, Im going to look around thier parts pile tomorrow.

It should be pretty straight forward, but you will need custom driveshafts from transfer to axles, and possibly a custom draglink (easy-ish)

...btw this is my hipshot "assessment".

I mean, your job will be alot easier if you can swap over the control arm mounts from the stock rears onto the new rears.

I'm sure there will be a million other things, but leaf spring swaps are generally not that bad. Factor in the fact that the 5 tonners basically were the same truck, and it should be fairly straightforward (if not "easy").

Ok back to wrenching.

Bob

Gear ratio is a little taller. 6.07(I think) instead of 6.72.

5 ton ratio is 6.44 , if you also have the rear suspension I'd use it , spreads the axles a little farther apart ( bigger tires )

The frame width should be the same, it would probably be better to use the whole 5 ton suspension. Maybe take out a leaf or 2....

Heres some food for thought. The deuce front driveshaft in on the passenger side. The 5 ton is on the drivers side.

Is the housing modular design like the deuce rockwells? If so, he could turn the front housing side to side, rotate the chunk 180* so it keeps it's drive on the correct side of the teeth, and swap knuckles side to side. That would put the chunk in the right spot. Oh, and even if he decided not to rotoate the chunk 180* it would put the drive still in good positions.

Well, you can't do that with the deuce. Not sure about the 5 tonner. There are special reliefs in the housing of the deuce for ring gear clearance. I've never tried to clearance them so I don't know if that can be accomplished. ANother consideration is the oil pan. They are dimpled to clear the deuce axle, Might be an issue with the 5 tonner.

Lots of things to consider. I looked at the axles again yesterday and there is no suspension to swap over. The axle tubes look about an inch thicker and alot heavier than the stockers. Also, when the truck was complete I remember there was an extra air switch on the dash that said axle interlock or maybe rear axle interlock and I remember an air line going into one of the rear axles. So Im thinking it has the capability of disconnecting the drive to one of the axles kinda like removing an axle shaft. On one of the axles I was able to rotate the pinion shaft very easily without the axles turning. The axles still have wheels on them so the top portion is upside down and I cant get a good look to verify if my memory is correct about the airline. If it has the inter-lock capability that would be a big bonus to putting them in. Am I remembering correctly about this interlock mechanism or am I just wishful thinking? Its been 5 years since I saw the truck complete and I wasnt familiar with these types of trucks then.

Pics would be nice. 5 tons never had the interaxle disconnect so pics would help.

Spinning the chunk in the 2.5 isn't hard. you need to redrill 4 holes in the chunk for the assymetrical bolt circle (the two most fore and aft are slightly shifted, I want to say to the passenger side?) and then maybe grind out to clear the bull gear.... it's not hard to do.

I imagine it's probably harder to do on the 5 ton... if only because that center chunk probably weighs close to 350 lbs!

Bob

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/DotNetForum/default.aspx?f=68&m=17648
Check out this thread from the 5 ton section. There is a switch that engages/dis engages the tandem axles on certain civilian trucks. This 5 ton truck I have been talking about was a converted water truck that had a fiberglass hood. It might have been made specifically for civilian use which according to the above thread had the rear axle interloc mechanism. I will try to get some pics but the axles have other big axles stacked on top of them making it hard to get the diff righted up.

if you turn the diff carrier in the axle housing, the rotation of the axles will be reversed, so you will have 2 speeds forward and 10 in rev.

Nope - you can spin these chunks and they'll still go the right way, assuming the driveshaft rotation is the same as previous. It's not like, say, flipping a chunk on a ford 9" - they will still drive the same way, because you're also effectively changing the input rotation as well (the two "backwards" therefore cancel out). It's hard to conceive of, but totally works. People do it on the 2.5 Ton all the time.


Bob