1970 Travelette 4x4 axel swap question

[Truckee530]

Hello everyone, newbee to the world of IH here. I have already learned quite a bit from this site and cannot thank you enough.

I picked up a nice crew cab 4x4 for $600 the other day. A little rust, but mostly surface. 392 + 4spd manual.

The primary use for this truck is to tow a 21 ft ski boat 8 miles up and down hills at 5500 ft elevation. Would also like to build it out to be a competent 4 wheeler, but not necessarily looking for a crawler.

The primary issue standing my way right now is the drum brakes. (may other ideas in mind, but need to get it tow-ready now)

I have located a Dana 60 front w/ disks and a Corp 14 rear w/ drums for only $1K. They are out of a 1985 dually, I really like the idea of having a wide axle stance on a crew cab. I plan to run single wheels in the rear when swapped under the Travelette. I plan to put 6 inch Chevy springs in the front and rear.

Any concerns from any of the IH experts on using these axles for the swap? If I use 70s Chevy leaf springs in the front my understanding is that the front should be a bolt on swap. Anyone disagree? Thanks everyone!

[Doc Stewart]

The bolt on swap depends on the width of the spring perches on the axle and the width of the spring mounts on the frame.

[Truckee530]

Makes sense to me,thanks!

[Jeff Jamison]

Your front axle(if off of the dually)will put the front wheels at a different width than the rear running single wheel.I would measure the spring perches,but what I have read is they will bolt to the springs in the truck.Your truck has 2 set of shackle mount holes on the rear of the front springs on the frame.Your truck uses the front ones now,if you use chevy springs youwill move the mount to the rear holes.Measure twice before you buy.
Jeff

[Truckee530]

Thanks Jeff, from what I understand I can remove a spacer and make the new front axle as wide as a standard D60(vs the 6-8inch wider dually stance). It is going to be wider than the current set-up but that is a plus for this project.

The new rear axle is another story, it is going to be narrow once switched to single rear wheel. I might just run two inch offset rimes in the back to make up for it. Or sell it and get something else.

Thanks for the heads up on the second set of holes for maunting the springs, I hadn't even noticed them.

[WRENCH MAN]

Originally Posted by Truckee530

from what I understand I can remove a spacer and make the new front axle as wide as a standard D60(vs the 6-8inch wider dually stance).

This is NOT correct on the straight axle Chevy's, you must change the entire wheel hub (and rotor) to convert from single to dual, Independent front end Chevy's, '94 and later Dodge's, and '99 and later Ford's (Super Duty's) have the dually adapters.

[shortbus4x4]

JP magazine did an article a few months back on building the exact same axles for a M-715. Your dually rearend should be a dana 70. A SRW rearend is a corporate 14 bolt. They used the 14 bolt hubs on the dana 70 to get pretty close to the same width as the front. You shold be able to go on their website and read the article. They gave width dimensions too.

[Truckee530]

Found it

http://www.jpmagazine.com/techarticl...wap/index.html
This spells it out perfectly, thanks