Been a busy few weeks at Hippie's "Lazy S Stude Ranch". Took the Commander to meet a few new friend's a couple weeks ago and on mile 98 of the 100 mile round trip the Dana 27 decided it had had enough. Left axle bearing seized and it's also displaying a LOT of backlash in the R & P. I had just located a 1960 Lark wagon the week before in hopes of furthering my 4.3 plans but it was past saving. HOWEVER... it had a Dana 44 Twin Trac posi. Just what the Doctor ordered to replace the broken Dana 27 in the '55. The deal was made and I went to pick it up last Saturday from it's 14 year resting spot.
4-1/2 hours and 236 miles one way then another hour and a half to try to make it roll enough to get it on the trailer all the time praying it wouldn't tear in half. Yeah it is THAT rusty but the 259 V-8 spins over good, still had decent oil in it and the anti-freeze was still good for 45 below after all those years! Tranny fluid was "OK", it's a B-W Flight O Matic and the posi feels real good with normal back lash. A couple bonuses were the reclining seat backs on the front bench and the Delco window type distributor which was used in Studebaker V-8's only on the 1960 and 1961 Lark. Definitely worth the long drive.
Only real bad point is that the diff has 3.07 gears, not ideal for a stick and OD but last night on Ebay I found a set of NOS Dana 44 factory 3.73 gears for a Studebaker for $95 shipped!!! . He had two sets, I snagged one and posted the link at the Studebaker Drivers Club and the other set was gone about 20 minutes after I posted. The older 44's had different size ring gear bolts and a 10 spline pinion so to find 2 sets at that price was pretty cool.
I've been wanting a posi and some taller gears and while the timing could have been better it is all coming together nicely. My stock rear end has 4.27's and even with OD that's a bit much for the long stroke 289, it just doesn't need that low a gear. This will cut my cruise RPM at 60 MPH by 300 RPM. I should also be able to make it all the way across an intersection or around a corner before I have to shift to second!
Spent the next day starting the tear down and got it to the point today that the engine and trans are ready to yank then we can roll it back on the trailer to yank the rear end and cut off the front stub. It uses the same suspension as my '55 but the uprights and upper control arms have a little better geometry so when I rebuild the front end I'll use them to improve the handling a little. Another bonus.
Of course one thing always leads to a few others so it looks like I'll be replacing at least some of the rear spring leaves if not all and there are 4 new gas shocks on the bench awaiting their turn. Like Rosanne Rosanadanna used to say, "It just goes to show ya', it's ALWAYS something!"
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