Does anybody have a good resource for frontend parts on old vehicles? I need either wheel studs for a 53-54 3/4 ton or the complete hub/drum assembly. I have looked everywhere. Nobody carries the studs. This is what I need.

Wheel studs are pretty universal, they can be used in many different vehicles. You don't have to have the exact stud that originally came on your truck, you just need to have one that is reasonably close and the drum can be adapted to allow it to work.

Get the old ones out and make some measurements. You need to know the over all length of the stud, the thread size and count, the shank length, diameter, and the length of the serrated teeth. Without measurements, you are searching for an unknown stud out of 100s of possibilities. Remove a stud and get some measurements.

Then you locate an auto parts store that has a Dorman book and knows how to read it. (if you get measurements, someone here can help you with this.) You find a stud, among the 100s listed that comes closest to your measurements. Important numbers are thread size and thread count, with a shank diameter the same or slightly larger then what you have, and the serrated teeth length can't be longer then your old studs. Buy new lug nuts for the new studs.

Then, if need be, you drill or ream out the stud holes in the drum and hub so the new studs will have the proper interference when they are pressed in.

There are 2 reasons you are having difficulty.
1) Very little info concerning part numbers on component parts (like wheel studs in a drum and hub assembly) exist. You would really need to have a parts book on hand covering the very specific assembly you have, and then, wheel studs were often a "this one or that one, what does yours look like?"

2) Regardless of what your title says, or what the numbers on the truck say, except for the mid 70s vans, all normal Mopar 3/4 ton wheels were either 6 lug, or 8 lug. They normally didn't make a 5 lug 3/4 ton truck wheels, all trucks with 5 lugs were 1/2 ton. Now there may have been a dealer someplace that sold a 1/2 ton pickup they had in stock, as a 3/4 ton truck, in order to move it off the lot. Lots of stuff could have happened over the years, including axle swaps, or hub changes. Your having trouble finding 3/4 ton 5 lug hub parts simply because that configuration was out of the normal. Everything on your truck might well be a legitimate 3/4 ton truck, but the parts I see are not of the normal. If you seek parts from an abnormal truck, you can't expect to find them looking at the normal stuff. Expand your search for 1/2 ton stuff. Gene

Gene, that ain't right. The earliest Dodge 3/4 ton pickups were 5 on 4 1/2" just like the cars. I researched this years ago when on another board a member found a 3/4 ton Dodge pickup with (surprise to me) 5 on 4.5" bolt pattern.

R.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/48-49-50-51-52-5...s-/111661400542

These are 5 on 4.75 2 piece drums. I have a 51 1/2 ton but somebody rolled a 53-54 3/4 front end under it. I found one drum/hub from a guy. He's the one that told me it was off a 53-54 3/4 ton. I have measured the studs. The knurl is .700, shoulder is .55 and it's 1/2-20 count. I've looked all over. The closest I can find are .685 and I don't think that will work.

An option would be to take your drums to a machine shop and have them drill a second bolt pattern with hole diameters to facilitate the use of the studs you are able to get. They could press the studs in and you would be good to go. Just a thought.

how did you come up with the .685 dia.knurl stud ? was it by looking in the parts bins or by a chance luck application ? there has got to be something out there that will work for you !

Can't do that. These are 2 piece, the hub is separate from the drum. They'd both need to be re-drilled. I guess that is an option.

The .685 is the closest I can find. Everything else is way to small or too big.

A larger diameter stud base would be easier, its much more difficult to reduce the diameter of an existing hole then to expand the diameter an existing hole. Enlarging a hole is a simple drill or ream process that you can do to the already existing holes.

To reduce the hole diameter requires welding or plugging the existing hole, and re-drilling to the new diameter or relocate the hole to a new position on the drum and hub.

This is one of the issues we face when we attempt to retain the 60+ year old equipment. We either seek out usable "experienced" replacement parts, or retro fit the original components with currently available parts, doing what ever modifications are required, or we update the entire process with a different system we hope to be able to get parts for well into the future.

Your going through a lot of effort for something you tell us your going to replace with disc brakes. I know I probably sound like a fool, but I've been playing this game for more then 40 years. There are many reasons why one of the first things I do with old cars and trucks is a disc brake conversion, what you are experiencing is only one of them. Gene

What size are the brakes? There are four sizes of brake drums depending on truck rating.

The disc conversion is only for 1/2 units. If I want to go disc with this I'd have to either buy a fat man frame kit OR swap this back to 1/2 ton.

Kwing, these are 11x2.5's. I already had new shoes lined and replaced the lines and cylinders.

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